Read Harder readcap (like recap, but dumber!)

I did it, I finished Powers and Thrones! Did NOT think I would, but I made it happen. Another year of reading harder, in the books. The books I chose for this year's challenge are all spread out through posts, so if anyone wants the full list all in one place, here you go:

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1. Read a biography of an author you admire: The Making of Jane Austen by Devoney Looser

2. Read a book set in a bookstore: Words in Deep Blue by Cath Crowley

3. Read any book from the Women's Prize shortlist/longlist/winner list: An American Marriage by Tayari Jones

4. Read a book in any genre by a POC that's about joy and not trauma: Black Boy Joy by Kwame Mbalia

5. Read an anthology featuring diverse voices: Every Body Shines by Cassandra Newbould

6. Read a nonfiction YA comic: The Courage of Elfina by Andre Jacob

7. Read a romance where at least one of the protagonists is over 40: The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid

8. Read a classic written by a POC: Giovanni's Room by James Baldwin

9. Read the book that's been on your TBR the longest: The Red Pyramid by Rick Riordan

10. Read a political thriller by a marginalized author: While Justice Sleeps by Stacey Abrams

11. Read a book with an asexual and/or aromantic main character: Let's Talk About Love by Claire Kann

12. Read an entire poetry collection: The World Isn't the Size of Our Neighborhood Anymore by Austin Davis

13. Read an adventure story by a BIPOC author: Excuse Me While I Ugly Cry by Joya Goffney

14. Read a book whose movie or TV adaptation you've seen (but haven't read the book): I Love You Beth Cooper by Larry Doyle

15. Read a new-to-you literary magazine: Passages North

16. Read a book recommended by a friend with different reading tastes: Your Money or Your Life by Joseph R. Dominguez and Vicki Robin

17. Read a memoir written by someone who is trans or nonbinary: Becoming Eve by Abby Stein

18. Read a "Best [blank] Writing of the Year" book for a topic and year of your choice: House of Earth and Blood by Sarah J. Maas

19. Read a horror novel by a BIPOC author: The Taking of Jake Livingston by Ryan Douglass

20. Read an award-winning book from the year you were born: Maus: A Survivor's Tale by Art Spiegelman

21. Read a queer retelling of a classic of the canon, fairytale, folklore, or myth: Darling by K. Ancrum

22. Read a history about a period you know little about: Powers and Thrones: A New History of the Middle Ages by Dan Jones

23. Read a book by a disabled author: The Kiss Quotient by Helen Hoang

24. Pick a challenge from any of the previous year's challenges to repeat (I picked listening to a poetry audiobook): The Hill We Climb by Amanda Gorman

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 And now, it is time to get started on choosing books for 2023! First two challenges, here we go!

1. Read a novel about a trans character written by a trans author: In my quest to read my way through a bunch of middle grade and then add them to my school library, I have chosen Both Can Be True by Jules Machias. Looking forward to it! (I also put Fight + Flight by them on my list and am VERY excited. EDS! Anxiety disorders! That's my kind of book.)

2. Read one of your favorite author's favorite books: Time to stalk some of my favorite authors on Twitter, I guess? (Consider them stalked) Look...a whole heap of authors that I like collaborated on this, and I'm going to assume that they all love each other's work in it, so...I'm going to read Whiteout by Angie Thomas, Dhonielle Clayton, Ashley Woodfolk, Nic Stone, Nicola Yoon, and Tiffany D. Jackson. 

Let's do this!

Reading Harder - Just over a week left

It's been a minute since my last update, so here we are again! I finished Maus, something everyone should read. Very emotional, very powerful. My hold for While Justice Sleeps came in again, and I did successfully finish reading it, although I came very close to having to put it on hold again. It was an okay read, but for a political thriller, it was not very compelling...solid premise, strong characters, but kind of dry. The reader didn't know the finer points of what was going on, but you know the entire time who the bad guy is and what they're planning, so it fell a little flat for me, reading about the main character trying to unravel what's going on and not having anything to guess at myself.

Anyway, that's two down, two to go for the year. I've been working my way through Powers and Thrones (the physical copy, because seriously, this book is huge) and am about halfway done. It's interesting, but also so much information, so I can only read so much of it at a time before I have to take a break so my brain can recover. I just finished reading about the Crusades, and honestly, fuck the Crusades.

My last hold of the year, The Taking of Jake Livingston, came in a couple days ago, and I'm roughly halfway through that too. A bit of a trip, one of those books that you read and are like "okay, wait, what is real and what is not? Is any of this actually happening?" Not so terrifying that I can't handle it, though, so that's something! I'll probably finish this in the next day or so, and then I guess we'll see if I make it through Powers and Thrones by the end of the year! Can I do it? I have my doubts.

Either way, I'll share an update in 2023, and I'll be putting together my list for next year, so I'll have that too. Some of the prompts seem interesting, although there are others (i.e. Read a book you DNFed) that I am...less thrilled about. I don't DNF lightly, so I may double up on another challenge and skip that one. As for the others...we'll see what I come up with!

A day late but a review over - Attack of the Black Rectangles and Skin of the Sea

It's NaNoWriMo, so all my writing brain cells are going to partner writing a sweet novel. I've got thoughts on two books to share, though, so I figured why not make this a twofer review and keep them both short and sweet? Here goes!

Attack of the Black Rectangles by A.S. King: I wish the people around me when I was growing up were as well-adjusted as the people Mac has in his corner. He's a lucky dude, and he and his friends are very courageous. I took a bunch of pictures of bits from this book that I really liked, but a couple favorites:

"I should have been born at a time when adults didn't pretend something is okay when it's not. I don't know if that time ever existed. Maybe I needed to be born in the future."

 

"Don't cry." I say.

She turns to me. "Crying is a natural reaction to disappointment. Would you tell me not to sneeze?" 

Just...excellent. I also really appreciated that King explicitly called out the misguided focuses of people banning or censoring books and that they're upset about the wrong things. GO A.S. KING.

Skin of the Sea by Natasha Bowen: I cannot say enough good things about this book. First of all, the cover is a work of art. Second, mermaids?! Bowen beautifully wove tales of African deities through this story, and the imagery, the world  building, the descriptions of every place they visited and interaction that took place were just...gorgeous. Everything about this book is a masterpiece. It's a heavy read, so be prepared to feel a lot of things and to get uncomfortable. To be pulled into the story and feel everything Simi and Kola are feeling. I have the second book waiting for me on my bookshelf, and I can't wait to get into it.

Read Harder update

 Let's see, let's see...over the past month, I have finished The Kiss Quotient, shared my thoughts about that book, and finished Darling. I didn't write a review of that one because I sped through it so quickly and my brain was kind of like...holy shit, what did I just read?! After I finished it. It was a darker book than I typically go for, but I liked the way they handled it...dark without being horrifying or morbid just for shock value. It was very good, and an interesting spin on Peter Pan. One out of two, not bad?

I've also started reading Maus, although I'm only like a third or so of the way through. I'm taking this one slower, but it's a very good read. As noted in my previous post, I'm started Powers and Thrones too, but my ebook loan expired, so I'm waiting to get it back. I might need to get a physical copy, it's hard for me to do that much reading on a Kindle. In fact...yes. I just paused this recap to put a hold on it at the library. Some books you just need to read in their physical form, and this is one of them.

Over the next month, I'll keep working my way through the above two books, and if I finish I'll be continuing on to The Taking of Jake Livingston (prompt #19, Read a horror novel by a BIPOC author), and we will see how that goes, since as previously noted horror isn't really my thing. 😬 If, at long last, my hold for While Justice Sleeps comes in, I'll be finishing that (FINALLY) too!

I've got to say, I'm impressed with how well I'm doing with these challenges after getting back on track earlier in the year! Knocking them out of the park!

What am I even reading right now?

I can't keep track, somebody help me.

Okay, fine, I know what I'm reading, but also every book I lay eyes on right now sounds so good. So then I'm like "hey, why not start reading another one? It's probably fine!" So then I end up reading a thousand books at the same time and finishing none of them. We've all been there, right? I did a pretty good job finishing several books during Fall Break, at least, that's something. And the day before I went back to work I realized I had checked out Attack of the Black Rectangles by A.S. King from work and forgotten about it, so I read that in one sitting (so good!).

My top books right now and take on them so far:

1. The Night & Its Moon by Piper CJ - I had a pretty good read on what to expect from this before I started it, and reality is coming pretty close to expectation. I find the writing a little overly wordy and flowery, but I'm still enjoying the story, although I wish it were faster paced.

2. Maus by Art Spiegelman - I mean...what do you even say about this book? Everyone should read it. 

3. Powers and Thrones: A New History of the Middle Ages - This is a fucking TOME, but it's very informative and an interesting read!

Add to my already impossible to finish TBR list! What are you reading right now?

The Kiss Quotient - Helen Hoang

Initial Draw: ☆☆☆

Character Development: ☆☆

Plot/Writing Style: ☆☆

Overall: ⭐⭐⭐

From the cover:

"Stella Lane thinks math is the only thing that unites the universe. She comes up with algorithms to predict customer purchases--a job that has given her more money than she knows what to do with, and way less experience in the dating department than the average thirty-year-old.

It doesn't help that Stella has Asperger's and French kissing reminds her of a shark getting its teeth cleaned by pilot fish. Her conclusion: she needs lots of practice--with a professional. Which is why she hires escort Michael Phan. The Vietnamese and Swedish stunner can't afford to turn down Stella's offer, and agrees to help her check off all the boxes on her lesson plan--from foreplay to more-than-missionary position...

Before long, Stella not only learns to appreciate his kisses, but crave all of the other things he's making her feel. Their no-nonsense partnership starts making a strange kind of sense. And the pattern that emerges will convince Stella that love is the best kind of logic..."

 

I picked this book because, aside from the outdated reference to Asperger's, the plot sounded intriguing. From the description, I expected it to be sweet, maybe a little nerdy, and something of a slow burn romance-wise. Imagine my surprise when I turn on the audiobook for the first time on my drive to work and within the first two chapters Michael is gripping his cock and masturbating to just shy of completion in preparation for his first "date" with Stella.

I mean...I know it's a romance but it read more contemporary fiction and less bodice-ripper to me, so it took me a lot by surprise being auditorily accosted by cocks at like 6:30 in the morning pulling into an effing ELEMENTARY SCHOOL. Slow burn this was decidedly not. Also, I take issue with "before long, Stella not only learns to appreciate his kisses, but crave all of the other things he's making her feel..." in the description because "before long" is basically immediately. And that brings me to my biggest issue with this book: Every bit of the plot felt manufactured.

I mean, we start off with Stella eating with her parents, hearing about the pressure from her mom to have grandkids (even though Stella has never actually dated anyone) and witnessing firsthand Stella's discomfort with being touched. Alright, I'm following. If you don't like being touched in general, you're probably not going to be super comfortable with doing the sex, particularly if you've never been in a relationship.

Then we're treated to a description of the last time she'd had sex (which I believe was her third time ever), and we learn that her only sexual encounters thus far have been obligatory sex with random blind dates who have essentially sexually assaulted her after it was clear that she was not enthusiastically consenting to anything they were engaging in. Ummmmmmm. That's certainly...something.😐

Enter Michael, the cock gripper himself. They meet up for the first time, and while there is a little tension and anxiety on Stella's part, she almost immediately is going weak-kneed and horny for him. Which is hard for me to wrap my brain around, both taking into account her aversion to touch in general and keeping in mind that literally her only other experience with intimacy has been so decidedly negative. I mean, at the risk of getting into TMI, I have been sexually assaulted before, and while everyone reacts differently, I just do not buy being instantaneously comfortable with someone just because they take things a tiny bit slow. Nope. No way.

Immediately comfortable Stella is, though, and after a tiny bit of turbulence, the book basically becomes nonstop filthy sex. Not only that, but Michael and Stella have pretty much fallen in love at their first meeting, and they're essentially dating, but of course they're not actually dating because [insert trivial manufactured reason Stella thinks Michael doesn't actually like her] and [insert trivial manufactured reason Michael thinks Stella doesn't actually like him]. It didn't even feel like there was plot conflict for like 80% of the book because it was just Stella and Michael boning down in between forced introspection about how much they liked being together and how sad they were that it could never possibly work out for real because mumble mumble mumble...

Things do finally come to a head, probably 85% of the way into the book, in an incredibly convincing and not at all contrived way (insert sarcmarkⓒ here). The not-couple breaks up, sending both of them into a vicious downward spiral in which Michael contemplates fucking someone else, since Stella totally is (?), while Stella decides she needs to quit her job (?) to become a doctor instead. Fortunately, while all these dark thoughts are going down, Stella goes out to dinner with a trashbag of a coworker, Michael runs into them, and after totally necessary shenanigans, the couple is happily reunited. Not only that, but Michael informs her the moment they get back together that he will be proposing to her in three months, so she has time to mentally prepare. I'm sorry...what?! How incredibly Mormon of you, Michael.

Anyway, congratulations to the happy couple, but even more congratulations to me for not having to listen to this book anymore. Did I hate it? No. Did I want to finish it? Also no. Did it make me like it approximately 78% less than I would have otherwise that Michael on multiple occasions dictated to Stella that her vagina MUST be referred to as a pussy and that he basically ordered her to wear her hair down and wear sundresses at one point? Absolutely. Did I also not love that in one chapter there were approximately infinity references to Stella's "sex," which is possibly my least favorite euphemism for a person's bits? I truly did not. Am I just asking rambling questions now because there were so many little gripes I had with this book? You nailed it.

Read this book or don't, I don't care. If you do, I recommend avoiding reading in public, since so much of it is extra spicy, but you do you.

Almost October? Close enough.

I finished reading my last challenge book for September tonight, so I figured why not do my monthly update now? This was most certainly not motivated by the fact that I had no review ready and it was either this or skip posting this week. Nope, that wasn't it. Just really eager for this update.

I won't mince words...September was not a good month for challenge books. I Love You, Beth Cooper? Did not age well. I knew going into it that I probably wouldn't love it...but Jesus H. Christ. I should have looked harder for another book that fit the bill because yeesh. It wasn't great.

In a pretty entertaining twist, Joel never reads my blog, but he decided to read the last challenge update post. It's like he has a sixth sense for when I'm casting aspersions upon his reading preferences. Sorcery! Anyway, he read it and was like "I recommended that? Can I change my recommendation?" I would like to say he changed it to something better, but...he changed it to Your Money or Your Life which...look. I get it, I guess? But it's really hard for me to take a book seriously when it talks about breaking down your hourly wage and uses $10 an hour as the example, but then turns around and shares anecdotes about people who own multiple houses and shit like that. Don't pretend this advice will work for anyone and act like low income people can bootstrap themselves into financial independence when all your advice is clearly only intended for people with a lot of disposable income.

Anyway, as I predicted, Becoming Eve was the palate cleanser I needed. Abby's story is so compelling, heartbreaking but also inspiring, that I couldn't put it down. Coming from a high demand religion (read: cult) myself, I was grinding my teeth reading about all the ways she was forced to suppress herself by her family's religious practices, and I'm so glad that she was able to finally find a way to be herself. Abby is incredible.

Now, let's talk October. I should have thought ahead and put holds on books, because...everything is on hold? What the hell? I've got holds in now, and a couple books should be available soon, so these are the challenges I'm going with this month:

#21: Read a queer retelling of a classic of the canon, fairytale, folklore, or myth 

For this I'm going with Darling by K. Ancrum. I love Peter Pan and have read all kinds of fractured fairytale versions, retellings, etc, so I'm interested to get into this spin on it!

#23: Read a book by a disabled author

I had a couple options I was still trying to decide between, but I've settled on The Kiss Quotient by Helen Hoang. Basically, a woman obsessed with math comes up with algorithms for everything and decides to apply her love of logic to dating. What starts out as a very straightforward plan, of course, does not go as expected. We'll see what happens!

Bonus! For #20: Read an award-winning book from the year you were born, I chose Maus: A Survivor's Tale, and after looking into getting it from the library I decided to buy it. I should get it soon, so I'm going to try to read it in October also.