“The world is changed because you are made of ivory and gold. The curves of your lips rewrite history.” 💋 - Oscar Wilde

I don’t usually recommend books on here (because I haven’t really been reading for fun since I started college) but if you like the Percy Jackson series then you should check out A Thousand Beginnings and Endings.

It is a retelling of Asian myths and legends and it is exactly what I’ve been looking for since I plowed through the Percy Jackson series and it’s various sequels in middle school and high school. It is basically a bunch of short stories each followed by an explanation of the myth that they are based on.

I have tried plenty of books based on Greek myths that people have recommended saying that if I liked the Percy Jackson series I would like those books, but so far they have mostly been disappointing for me largely due to the authors writing voice or weak character work. I am loving a thousand beginnings and endings because the authors of that book do not have that problem. The characters are well written and the myths are incorporated naturally into the stories. Each story is only a few pages long but they draw you in and make you want to see what myth they adapt next. The main things that remind me of the Percy Jackson series in a thousand beginnings and endings are the authors’ writing voices and the respect that they have for the myths and cultures they are writing about. It is truly a fun read and you all should definitely check it out if you haven’t already

by: Jeneva Rose Published: Apr 26, 2022 Genre: Thriller, Mystery, Fiction 272 Pages, Audio Book (HH:MM) 07:49

★★★

GoodReads Synopsis:

Opulence. Sex. Betrayal … Sometimes friendship can be deadly.

Meet the women of Buckhead—a place of expensive cars, huge houses, and competitive friendships.

My Review:

Let's run through the players:

Shannon -- Gretchen Wieners

Crystal -- Cady Heron

Olivia -- Regina George

Jenny -- Janis Ian

Initially, I thought the women were going to kill their respective husbands but I guess that was too obvious. Bryce and Dean are both caught up in some human trafficking or sex trafficking or God only knows. It was strange how Crystal was tied into the fold, seemingly maybe she was one of the humans that had been trafficked by Bryce and Dean but, that falls flat. But if it were true, might have made the story better.

All these rich women stir up shit and want to be the "Queen Bee" except for Jenny. She wants to work and be left out of the mess but the problem with that is, she's at the center of all the mess. Everyone knows that women confide in their beautician/hair stylist/nail tech, the same way men confide in their barbers.

Blackmail. A botched robbery. Lesbian sex. Oh my! The side stories really sell this for me.

Beware of a woman scored - or women.

One-Word Summary: Duh!

I highly recommend reading this book!

Was looking for a book today when I saw these various animal books all on the same shelf and noticed their titles made a nice little impromptu poem about veterinary medicine

Often when trans women ask me when I'm performing next, and I tell them that it's a queer/trans event, they will tell me that they'd rather not go because they do not feel comfortable or safe in those spaces, that they have been dismissed or belittled at such events before. Even trans women who are dyke- or bisexual- identified often don't feel welcome or relevant in queer/trans spaces. And whenever a trans woman or ally points out aspects about the queer/ trans community that contribute to these feelings of irrelevancy and disrespect—such as the way our community coddles those who support trans-woman-exclusionist events or who make trans-misogynistic comments—we are described as being "divisive." This use of the word "divisive" is particularly telling, as it implies that "queer/trans" represents a uniform movement or community—a "oneness"—rather than an alliance where all voices are respected.

Julia Serano, Whipping Girl. Published 2007.

This may just be the autism speaking, but I fucking hate when customer surveys ask me 'how likely are you to recommend this or that to a friend' because they are lying about what they're asking. I am 0% likely to recommend almost any product to any friend and especially not by brand if at all possible, but what they want to know is 'did you have a decent experience with the thing' and that's a whole other fucking question if you want that answered fucking ask that. Except if I answer the question they're asking instead of the secret question, they yell at their employees on my behalf which I never wanted either. Terrible system, would not recommend it to a friend.

been going a little bit insane about this sentence from Ace by Angela Chen for the past week

it’s very easy to tell the good satires and pastiches from the bad ones because the bad ones are too afraid to live within the form. like if you are doing work with fairy tales and you are refusing to look closer at the underlying logic and unspoken rules of what can seem at first to be a senseless form, you are not going to create meaningful work. to borrow a turn of phrase originally used by maria tatar, if you refuse to enter “the house of fairy tale” as anything more than a gawking tourist, you will miss the particular order to the way the table is set, the rooms that are locked vs the rooms that are simply difficult to enter, the set of the floorboards and the position of the furniture. whatever you build will then be a gilded imitation of how you believe the house of fairy tale ought to look, the table set according to your educated specifications and every door open. there can be no interrogation of themes from a writer who views the form as beneath them!

day 3: your life is mine ♡

(femslashfeb prompt list)

happiest girl in the whole entire world

thinking about my favourite kind-hearted eldritch horror trapped in the body of my favourite traumatized goth girl

(+ purple variant)

I felt personally targeted by this book the entire time I read it. The best way to describe it is like an enjoyable peaceful melancholy. Reading it feels the same way that the cover does. The characters all have a relatable but unique sense of being lost and unhappy with various factors of their lives and society. It’s really nice to go on this found family progression with them as they work through their individual problems and build the community of the bookshop. If you do check it out it may or may not be your thing but it definitely was mine

by: Simone St. James Published: Feb 18, 2020 Genre: Mystery, Horror, Fiction, Thriller 327 Pages, E-Book

★★★

GoodReads Synopsis:

The secrets lurking in a rundown roadside motel ensnare a young woman, just as they did her aunt thirty-five years before, in this new atmospheric suspense novel from the national bestselling and award-winning author of The Broken Girls.

My Review:

Viv goes missing in 1982 from a small town in upstate New York. Presumed dead for 35 years, her niece Carly travels to Fell, NY to get answers about her disappearance.

The story centers. around a run-down motel where Viv worked while in Fell -- she was in search of New York City. Viv worked the overnight shift and when she vanished, it was like life in the town just kept going and no one batted an eye at trying to find the missing woman. Not just Viv but the other missing women in town didn't get a fair shake either!

The motel holds its own secrets and is the center of all the hoopla in town but, there is also a serial killer on the loose. Girls are found dead all over town and not a single cop is putting forth any good cop work to find the killer. Viv did more cop work than actually, paid cops.

Supernatural. Ghosts. Spirits. All-around strange people. I could have done without the supernatural aspect of this story, it was sloppy and unnecessary. I get it, Viv couldn't have been a victim of the serial killer because that is obvious but everything else was poorly written and fleshed out.

Heather. Callum. All of them, are unnecessary. Not really true-crime, not really a thriller, more like a sci-fi mystery.

One-Word Summary: Interesting

The Sword of Kaigen, by M. L. Wang

What is it about?: In a fantasy world inspired by East Asian culture, a woman fights to keep her violent past hidden from her loved ones after marrying into a powerful, traditional family. Her eldest son, growing into the warrior culture of his father, is discovering certain truths about the reality he lives in. What are they gonna do when said reality comes to their village, threatening to destroy everything they fought so hard to build? What will prevail, duty and tradition or bravery and audacity?

What I liked: My heart is 100% on the character development. While we start with well established characters, I believe the author did a great job at shifting our focus from “what will happen” in the plot, to “who will these people become” as the plot unfurls before us.  Misaki is a tremendous protagonist, not because of her physical ability or her righteousness, but because even in the moments in which she is proven to have been mistaken or acted wrongly, her conviction and good intentions are what guide her. She is a loving mother and just because it’s her feelings what guide her it doesn’t mean that she’s hot headed or irrational. Her son Mamoru is also a deeply interesting one, full of questions and fears and turmoil that never gets annoying, you can see his thoughts linking with one another and the conclusion he reaches to, are fascinating. His idealistic mind confronting reality and then the conflict that comes over the village are what move the plot, and while the theme of old tradition vs. young idealism is something that has been written so many times before, I enjoyed this new take on it. Generally, when this theme is explored, generally it’s taken as if both sides held the same weight. But in this case, the narration takes a stand and you can not only realize why this is the way it is, but also observe those ideals be tested and grow and change as circumstances change. I find that to be a more realistic approach than I have seen in most cases and it really helped make the characters convincing and palpable. 

What I did not like: This one is probably a me thing, a pet peeve of mine. While this book is interesting due to its East-Asian inspired narrative and plot, the writing style is inundated with many different non-english words that, in my opinion, muddled up the flow of the book. Now, don’t get me wrong, I generally don’t mind this most of the books I read. But in this case it showed up maybe a little bit too much, in things like units of measure and time markers, and I had a bit of a hard time not letting it pull me out of the immersion. Especially in situations in which the characters used terms that they themselves (and by miracle, I) were used to, but I imagine that the reader doesn’t necessarily know. I appreciate that there is a glossary at the end, but I think that having some footnotes every now and then would have helped the reading process a bit. I would say that the end result is not so much “we are foreigners looking into a culture we know” but more “it’s all according to keikaku (keikaku means plan in japanese)”, if you know that reference. But that’s just a very mild, inconsequential peeve of mine that does not affect the rating of it. 

In conclusion: I really liked this book. It did what it meant to do, and I’d even say it goes above and beyond the brief synopsis we are given. The integration of the fantasy elements within the plot is seamless and as someone who is really into (what I call) “samurai fantasy”,  I really appreciated all the ways in which this book presented the cultural elements in a way that felt organic and natural. 

My rating: Four and a half stars, even though Goodreads doesn’t let me use half stars.

Me: hm, I want something to put on the TV as background noise... Huh. Looks like YouTube is recommending something called The Last Unicorn. That's perfect, it's probably some old shitty animation that has aged poorly! I can watch it ironically!

Me, 2 hours later as the credits roll: *crying, cheering, buying the book, composing the songs*

Me, 2 weeks later: So I have compiled all of the quotes from the book that I think could make good tattoos, and also, HOW HAVE I NEVER LEARNED ABOUT HOW THE LAST UNICORN FUCKING SLAPS??? This gay-ass little fairytale fed my soul! Watered my crops! Transed my gender! Can't believe I heard of this story from youtube recommendations, of all places!!

The Ocean is terrifying!

Here are some book recommendations to prove it!