My Month in Books: January 2023

I really struggled with reading this month. After nearly reaching 50 at the end of last year and coupled with a crazy work month, I haven’t felt the most motivated to read or felt pressured by the internal numbers game. Which is something I never subscribed to until I realized that reading 50 books was a possibility for me. Seeing how much other people read does impact me more than I would like to think it does.

Still, I read three! And it was proof that I need to get back to the mindset that 2 books a month is a good goal to keep me in the habit, that reading a lot is not the same thing as reading well, and that our reading numbers fluctuate for all sorts of reasons.

Maps of Our Spectacular Bodies by Maddie Mortimer: First of all, this bitch is MY age and the sophistication of this story is so upsetting to me. Maps tells the story of Lia, a happily married mother of a young daughter, who is diagnosed with terminal cancer. The book flips back and forth between Lia’s present process of dying, Lia’s past being raised the daughter of an evangelical minister and her abusive first relationship, and the voice of her cancer. I so, so, so enjoyed this. The second quarter of this book was a little muddy but it really stuck the landing. The perspective she has on Matthew is so interesting and felt very real to me. From the outsider’s perspective, we can see that a teenager and a twenty-something should…like not be dating. The way that MM shows how being with someone with that sort of critical age difference impacts Lia’s relationship to herself, her self-worth and confidence, isolates her from her peer group, makes her lonely before any physical abuse has even occurred is really subtle. The implication that what abuse looks like can be different, can be subtle, can even be unintentional is so good here—Matthew gets with Lia, I think, initially less from a sense of power but rather from a profound immaturity without understanding the profound implications of a fifteen year old having sex with a twenty-one year old. The idea that she views this relationship as a romance, even after it’s violent conclusion and takes on some of the blame for the fact that Matthew abuses her, still, years later, I think is also really well-done. It’s a complicated dynamic and MM allows us to be immersed in an uncomfortable, unsafe, and unreconciled point of view. The twist at the end, the idea that we’ve been living inside a retelling of Wuthering Heights the whole time made me lose my mind, I will not lie to you. I get why people will not like this book the way I did. I think so much of my enjoyment has to do with the fact that I listened on audio and so the things that felt gimmicky in print and might have driven me crazy if I was reading a physical copy of the book. this book is flawed, certainly, and could have used with some grounding but!!! I still gave it 5 stars. (Recommended via Jen Campbell’s YouTube Channel)

The 13 Clocks by James Thurber: This was a perfect read for a snowy day!! I read this in two big gulps. It’s a delightfully dark children’s book about an evil Duke who keeps his niece, the beautiful Saralinda, captive in a cold castle. A prince, with the aid of a magical creature called a Golux, go on a mission to rescue her. It’s Jacobean and whimsical and dark. I think that if I had read this as a child I would have lost my mind and it would have altered my brain chemistry. It’s fun as an adult because the pattern of the language is so much fun to chew on but I literally cannot wait to read this to a kid. Neil Gaiman listed it as one of his favorite books and I have an interview with him about this book queued up and I can’t wait to hear more.

The Secret History by Donna Tartt: I have finally read it! And I am in the camp that loved it lol. I think its use of perspective is brilliant, the characters and setting are so well-drawn. It is truly immersive. What I don’t see people talking enough about is how poundingly funny it is? People talk about adapting it into a film or show and it always sounds so serious and it’s like…this would literally be Derry Girls with murder. I do have two criticisms which is…I think the last third is quite bloated and loses focus. I also think that Charles’ descent and apparent control and jealousy over Camilla needed more set up….like, her and Henry’s relationship felt very complete even while it occurred off-screen and I had the impression that incest could be a twist early on but…I felt like it needed more flesh to it. But other than that, so so so so good. I do think it hits a little different if you went to a small New England liberal arts college…like there were parts that rang uncomfortably true about the culture of Hampden. And having lived in the area where it was set for many years…there’s a mythology to the region that DT plays on really well.

everyone wish her a happy 9-year anniversary ♥️

Too many people talking abt Will Sad Gayboy Byers being heartbroken by his unrequited crush on his best friend and not enough of you talking abt how his big brother clocked it immediately and then gave him an impassioned speech abt how he loves him unconditionally and nothing will ever (meaningful eyecontact) ever change that and Will smiling and softly weeping as they hug bc he knows that no matter what he'll always have his brother.

Flinders street station Melbourne!!

cowboys are ok I guess @castercassette

The Dragon Queen 🐉🍋

I LITERALLY DIDN’T RECOGNIZE HER AT FIRST???? STUN 😍

You know. Yaz got way more confrontational with 13 after the jail hiatus thing, which, okay, she was angry. But she also got way more confrontational after she saw Jack and 13 squabble and argue about plans and get In each others space and in general be a bit antagonistic, and then almost immediately revert to being easygoing friends again. Something that may have been very important to see for her.

Jack may have been Yaz's angel in disguise, lbr. He let her in on a lot, and not just by filling her in, just by interacting with the doctor as he normally would.

he has hot pink hair because as much as i like taking my color palettes from the karma murals it just looks right. i kinda wanna redraw thirteen clocks, eleven chimes’ reference but honestly only a few details need to be updated so i haven’t bothered yet. anyway pillars is their boss, kinda. i think their places on the iterator project are something like this:

on top you have the people who are financing the whole thing and get their names put on the credits so to speak but who aren’t actually doing much in the way of actual work. and then working under them you have actual managers and then people like pillars who are in charge of more detail stuff... in the case of pillars he’s got the job title of a lead engineer but mostly he just keeps track of what bio-coders like clocks are doing, he’s in a mostly managerial position. and then under clocks you have the people who are actually going in and doing construction and growing the microbes that the coders wrote the genomes for.

when the disaster happened everyone blamed everyone else but it was generally the ones at the top blaming those at the bottom and the guys in the middle got left out of it, even though the issue in the first place was a genetic one...

favorite part of the pool party is when bdubs is being actively hunted by every single red on the entire server and impulse's first instinct when he notices something is wrong is to change the fucking music. the most important thing on his mind is to keep the party going i guess. and he inadvertently sets the mood for his soulmate’s murder using the disc his soulmate used in last life to set the mood for grian’s murder. full circle moments just follow this couple wherever they go i guess

It could be a bit out there, but I have a little theory that the reason why all the clocks are set to two, and there's a countdown for two is because Taylor's counting down from 3. Aka Midnights 3 A.M. Edition, now a 2 A.M. deluxe version of this album, and maybe when we get TS 13 it will reach 0 aka midnight, and something totally crazy will happen, especially since Taylor's loves the number 13.

so much to process…

she is always 13,000 steps ahead 🖤🤍🥹 us swifties could not be more proud

The red time ball and weather vane on top of Flamsteed House at the Royal Observatory Greenwich.

Two minutes before 13:00 it rises up the pole and then at 13:00 it drops thereby signalling the time to ships on the River Thames below. It first operated in 1833 and has been in operation every since.

happy 10th birthday to this disgusting ass old man

I have some books/series recommendations for the fantasy poll - I’ll send more when I get home and actually get to look at my shelves

Elric of Melniboné by Michael Moorcock (series)

The Black Company by Glenn Cook (series)

The 13 Clocks by James Thurber

The Book of the New Sun by Gene Wolfe (series)

The Wizard Knight by Gene Wolfe (series)

The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison

The Cemeteries of Amalo by Katherin Addison (series)

The Locked Tomb by Tamsyn Muir (series)

Dark Lord of Derkholm by Diana Wynne Jones (series, sequel is Year of the Griffin)

I’ll think of more when I see my shelves. I’d recommend the Earthsea series 100 times, but I figure it’s already been submitted. Cheers - and thanks for doing these. They’re a lot of fun.

You are correct, Earthsea has already been submitted lol

I added all of these, and god, I love The Locked Tomb!