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ladyearlgreen · 2 years

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Loveless by Alice Oseman

Back again for one of my sporadic book write ups. This one is inspired by the fact that it’s International Asexuality Day (which should give you a bit of a clue to what this book is about lol).

Loveless is a YA novel about a girl named Georgia, who is about to go to college and has never kissed anyone or had a real crush. Obviously, shenanigans happen (there’s friend drama and a sort of enemies-to-lovers thing going on in the background. oh and Shakespeare!) and she discovers that she’s aro ace. I won’t go into details because it was enjoyable to read her journey to discovery, as messy as it was.

What I will say, however, is that from the very first paragraph, I understood pretty much exactly how Georgia felt. I spent part of middle school and all of high school having a “crush” on a guy friend because I think I needed a crush to talk about when I chatted with my friends (apparently, there may have actually been a small chance that we could have gotten together in like 9th grade but, looking back, I wonder what I would have even done if that happened). When he started dating a friend of mine our senior year, another one of my friends was confused about why I wasn’t mad. I now realize that I wasn’t actually that invested in any potential relationship and I just thought I needed to have a crush because that’s what teenagers do, right?

It took me until sophomore year of college to discover asexuality. I didn’t have someone to talk to about it like Georgia did- I think I may have discovered the term on Tumblr, actually. But discovering asexuality made me realize that there wasn’t anything wrong with me and how I felt (or possibly more accurately- how I didn’t feel).

Loveless was a great read and made me feel a little less alone in the world because, you know, as much as I love and adore romance novels, sometimes I just want to know that there are more people like me in the world that maybe don’t personally need or want a romantic happy ending in real life- I’m fine just being me.

#ladyearl reads #loveless #loveless by alice oseman #okay so this kinda ended up more as a commentary on my ace discovery #but this book made me think about that #and i kinda wish that i had a book like this when i was younger #maybe i would have discovered things a lot sooner #but the past is the past #and now i have a new book to recommend to people

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tshepiso-reads-books · 4 years

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A Wrap-Up of Sorts

I’ve been in a reviewing funk for basically all of July. There are several books I’d like to review but I just can’t get my brain to craft meaningful worlds and a sensical order no matter how hard I try. This is a problem because I generally don’t like to read books if I have books unreviewed and the backlog is starting to get a bit intimidating. So these are some mini-reviews for books I’ve read in the past 3 weeks.

Revenant Gun · Yoon Ha Lee

The conclusion to the Machineries of the Empire series was confusing, to say the least. I have struggled in the weeks since I read Revenant Gun to parse why Lee made the choices he did in this series. The new perspectives we follow and the ultimate villain of the story feels incongruous with the set up in the first two books and many of the character choices baffled me. However, despite my qualms, Lee did still manage to write an engaging story. I’ll always be attached to the characters in this series and Jedao and Cheris especially had my heart. I enjoyed learning the backstory of Kujen and delving into his particular backstory as well. I overall had a good time with this series but I think I’d need to reread it before I could state any definitive opinion on it.

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The Empire of Gold · S. A. Chakraborty

The Empire of Gold was the perfect conclusion to the Daevabad trilogy. Every moment of this book was brilliant and the journey Ali, Nahri and Dara went on throughout this series was excellent. I adored the themes explored throughout the series. The way Chakraborty handled what it truly means to redeem yourself and how to move past centuries of violence was perfectly done. I could see some finding this book slow but I found the pacing perfect. Chakraborty took the time to show growth in our characters by having them make meaning full sacrifices and confront their previous desires. This made the stakes and consequences of this series all the more impactful. Chakraborty truly put her characters through the wringer and they benefited from it.

I adored the political machinations throughout this book as I always have in the Daevabad series and was on the edge of my seat throughout this entire reading experience. I absolutely adored watching the conflict within Daevabad play out though my one criticism of the series would be that I wish we saw more of Zaynab and Aquisa. Chakraborty stepped up when it came to romance in this book and for the first time in the series I had a legitimate emotional connection to Ali and Nahri’s romance. The Empire of Gold was perfect in every way and certainly won’t disappoint fans of the previous two installments in the series. Anyone with even a minor interest in fantasy needs to pick the Daevabad trilogy.

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Loveless · Alice Oseman

Loveless was another Alice Oseman knockout YA contemporary. The story follows Georgia Warr a college freshman navigating her desire to be in a romantic relationship despite her seeming inability to find love. I will warn that Oseman has an incredibly close first-person narrative style that may make this book, and especially its first half, difficult to read. Georgia and the other prominent side characters in the series, like most teenagers, are very stuck in her own heads. They often jump to conclusions and make short-sided, selfish choices and fail to make obvious connections which may make this book a frustrating read. However, these aspects of the characters make our main cast feel all the more real.

Loveless is a coming of age story about a girl coming into her identity as asexual romantic and Oseman’s ownvoices depiction of that was stellar. Seeing Georgia going through the long and arduous process of discovering and accepting her sexuality was while occasionally frustrating heartwarming nonetheless. I’ve never experienced media with asexual romantic representation and I’m glad to see that this book might make teens who feel lost and confused comforted and understood. And the way Oseman unpacked and directed the various ways society enforces heteronormativity and allosexuality (feeling romantic and/or sexual attraction) was spot on and even helped me unpack my own feelings about my sexuality.

Oseman’s characters are naturalistic in a way that makes them very easy to connect to and the strong friendships at the core of the novel were wonderful to read about. The side characters in this story Rooney, Pip and Jason felt fully fleshed out and individual in a way that made the story feel whole. Oseman’s underlying message about the importance of friendships and their equal importance and meaning as romantic relationships really hit the mark with me. I’d highly recommend this book to anyone who loves grand romantic gestures, Shakespeare societies, and complex friendship dynamics.

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Prosper’s Demon · K. J. Parker

Prosper’s Demon was not an enjoyable reading experience. The story follows an unnamed morally grey exorcist. He discovers the genius philosopher, engineer and artist Prosper of Schanz is possessed by a particularly wily demon and the story unfolds from there.

Reading this book felt like listening to a scratched CD. K. J. Parker’s style in this novella was jumpy and skipped from place to place with no indication of where the story was going. Convoluted sentences structured in confusing ways were common and I often had to reread lines to fully understand what he was saying.

I also found it hard to connect to the narrator because Parker obfuscated his motivations and thought process in a way that made it impossible for me to care about him in any way. The story jumped from flashback to present timeline in a way that gave me narrative whiplash and while the story ultimately made sense by the time all the pieces fit together and our narrator’s plot revealed the story had already lost me. So while there was some interesting worldbuilding and I can see Parker’s style working for some this book just didn’t hit the mark for me.

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I can’t say whether or not I’ll come back to these books for stand-alone reviews but I’m glad to have gotten my thoughts out there for these books so I can move on with my life. I hope I’ll be in more of a reviewing mood in the future but I can’t be sure of that anytime soon. You may be seeing a lot more Recent Reads style wrap ups from me in the future.

#Loveless #Prosper's Demon #The EMpire of Gold #Revenant Gun #Book Review #mini reviews #Wrap Up

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unkindnessofsails · 4 years

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August 2020 Book Roundup

Books I read:

Fingersmith by Sarah Waters

The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid

Radio Silence by Alice Oseman

Writing Down Your Soul: How to Actiate and Listen to the Extraordinary Voice Within by Janet Conner

Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi

It’s Not Like It’s a Secret by Misa Sugiura

The Skin We’re In by Desmond Cole

My thoughts under the cut (not spoiler free):

Fingersmith by Sarah Waters:

Enjoyed the first half much more than the second half. The first half has a lot of the similar beats to its movie adaption ‘The Handmaiden’ which I watched and loved a couple of years ago. The second half is quite different though and some of the twists revealed felt contrived. Also SPOILERS for the ending tbh I didn’t buy that Sue would be in love with Maud, especially with her being put into the asylum and being so pissed throughout most of the second half due to this. Maud’s affection seemed more realistic, but it was Sue who went after Maud in the end so idk, the ending felt too nicely wrapped up considering everything that happened throughout the story.

Favourite Character: I liked both Maud and Sue and can’t really choose between the two. I just don’t think these versions of the characters should have ended up together.

The Seven Husbands of Evelyn by Taylor Jenkins Reid:

This was a very quick read, which was good, because it sucks you in and is enjoyable to consume... but looking back on it, it’s a meh sort of book. Aside from Evelyn, most of the characters in her world are pretty one note and Evelyn’s relationship with Celia felt at times toxic. Like seriously Evelyn is an actor!!! getting jealous/upset over her acting out a sex scene in a movie is kind of stupid especially considering you yourself are also an actor.

Favourite Character: Evelyn I guess, she’s the only person the author developed fully.

Radio Silence by Alice Oseman:

Ughhhhh. Nope. The teenage drama felt over the top and the storytelling was clunky with nothing really happening till the end then everything happened all at once and feeling unrealistic and undeserving at that.

Favourite Character: None. They all annoyed me.

Writing Down Your Soul by Janet Conner

Got this as a gift a lonnnng time ago, so decided to just give it a read. Had some interesting ideas, but some of her examples were very embedded in the patriarchal system. I do think writing down your thoughts to let loose steam is a useful practice though.

Favourite Character: n/a

Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi

This book has clear parallels with atla, which is cool, but doesn’t always work. The first half is good, I enjoyed getting to know the characters and the world and then... it just all fell apart. The biggest problem is Iman who is supposed to be the Zuko character, but his ‘redemption’ just doesn’t work and the romance is cringy and unrealistic as fuck. It just took me out of the book and all of the things that happened after the romance was introduced was just frustrating. The moral and societal issues brought up in this book that are a reflection of our society are very important, but the character development needs a lot of work. Don’t know if I’ll read the second book as by the end of the book I didn’t care for any of the characters.

Favourite Character: Zélie... up till halfway through and then I couldn’t stand anyone. I loved how she’s cocky and brave and at times selfish and can get annoyed easily, but she just doesn’t back down. She needs better taste in men though.

It’s Not Like It’s a Secret by Misa Sugiura

A teen romance book that actually doesn’t focus so much on the teen romance. The main character’s problems that she finds herself in are actually relatable which I found nice - like her procrastinating talking to someone because it’s a difficult conversation to have (legit what I do all the time and it’s bad...). Also, though clunky at times the author does bring up important discussions about race. I do think the whole resolution about the father cheating storyline was a bit hand wavey, but I can see why the author resolved it that way.

Favourite Character: Jamie Ramirez - she did not deserve the distaste she got from Sana’s friends and imo didn’t do anything wrong. Also, Sana can be so oblivious and racially insensitive at times which Jamie has to put up with along with everything else. If I was Jamie I wouldn’t have taken Sana back, but I suppose with it being high school and slim pickings and all...

The Skin We’re In by Desmond Cole

100% recommend, especially for Canadians. So often Canadians, especially white Canadians like to say Canada is so much better than America when it comes to race issues, but this book clearly shows why this isn’t the case. It’s a picture of the issues Black Canadians face within the last decade (though the focus of the story is the year 2017). Given the racial climate we are living in now, this book is as relevant as ever.

Favourite Character: n/a

#fingersmith #the seven husbands of evelyn hugo #radio silence #writing down your soul #children of blood and bone #it's not like it's a secret #the skin we're in #books #august 2020

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gold-from-straw · 5 years

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Writing Ask Game

A little while ago I was tagged by @stardustloki to answer these questions about fanfic, and decided they'd be quite good questions to write about my original stuff as well, so here you go! (Some questions were deleted because I gave the same answers, or because they weren’t relevant to original stuff)

At what age did you start writing?

I think ALL children write stories at some point or another when they're very young, but the first story I remember finishing (that wasn't for school) was about two stowaways on a big tanker ship who find a girl who's been living in the bowels of the ship, sneaking around and making her home in the hidden corners where nobody can find her. I think I was 14 or so when I wrote it, and I can't remember how it ended - and it's one I don't have any more because I used to hand my stories around school and it sort of never came back to me!

What is your favorite book?

Oh god… OK, I can’t choose just one! So here’s a bunch! Radio Silence by Alice Oseman, I just love literally everything about this story, and I can't really talk about my favourite part without spoiling a major plot point. But Aled Last deserves the world, and Francis' mum is the mum I want to be - she supports her daughter, and even helps her in a way that literally never happens in YA books! You SO RARELY get a parent helping their child against another adult, but they SHOULD.

Also The Trees, by Ali Shaw, which is wonderful and creepy and disturbing. And The Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue by Makenzie Lee, which is sweet and bonkers. And Marian Keyes' books - This Charming Man was traumatic and I can't read it again BUT it was SO clever and I loved the resolution - women working together ftw! Things by Kate Atkinson are always brilliant but I can't choose a favourite, and also anything in the Discworld series! OK, I'm going to stop now, or it'll get silly...

What stories do you avoid like the plague?

I can't watch horror movies, and I find creepy books very hard to deal with as well. The pictures in Miss Peregrine's School for Peculiar Children was about my limit, and without the story that went with them I think I would have had nightmares! I've tried reading Mills and Boon books but I found it REALLY hard to believe in the romance at all, it was like they ended up together because... reasons? But one of them had the guy allow this girl to believe that Tara was his wife back at home, she got insanely jealous and really bitchy (like dude... you're not even together, chill?) and then it turns out Tara was his dog. Why? Why would you do that to each other? Do you LIKE each other? Are you SURE??

Ahem.

(Read Elegance by Kathleen Tessaro instead. Their relationship was cute. Or If You Could See Me Now by Cecelia Ahern! So cute!)

I also tend to avoid those books about abused children. Triggery!

What story do you wish to write but feel like you won’t manage?

I have SO MANY novel ideas, and I'm really precious about most of them (I WILL get to them, just... it takes me a while, OK?!) But one book that I've wanted to write and been too scared to attempt is called Morningstar. It's actually inspired by a fanfic I wrote where Loki and Jesus are good friends (and no, it's not religion bashing, I may be a pagan but I think Jesus is a pretty great character) called Happy Birthday, Jesus! (It was written on Christmas Eve, and it's really silly and fluffy!)

The thing is, I wanted to write a prequel about how they became friends. And then I ended up going to church with a friend and reading the bible (it was a book and it was RIGHT THERE don't judge me) and noticing a lot of references to punishing the children of the devil for the actions of their father. Distressing, for a start, but also reminded me of the Lokasenna.

So it turned into an idea where Lucifer decides to come and visit this so-called Son of God, and finds him at age 13, when he's annoying the hell out of all the priests by being a little too well-informed. Lucifer joins in and spreads discord and actually quite likes the kid, and over the years, he keeps in touch with him. Then, when Jesus is an adult, Lucifer's children are killed, and he's trapped (similar to how Loki was, with the snake venom) and Jesus comes to help him get out. Lucifer starts hanging around with the disciples. He annoys the absolute hell out of Peter for laughs, because Peter's really pious, he gets on really well with Mary Magdalene and Levi, the ex-tax collector. Jesus is just kind and happy to everyone, and while he listens to Lucifer ranting, he always argues with him - they just never let their very opposing views get in the way of their friendship. When Jesus goes out into the desert, Lucifer tempts him because he's worried about him, and angry, and eventually Jesus tells him to leave him alone because doing this is important to him.

It would change nothing about the story. Jesus still dies and is resurrected. It's just that Lucifer's around the whole time, being a twisty, sarcastic, bitchy arsehole, with fundamentally different views to Jesus, and still be his friend on a personal level. There would probably also be some natural disasters when Jesus dies.

However, I'm terrified of doing this story wrong! I would end up insulting a large group of people and aaahhhh! Maybe I'll write it when I'm an old woman and don't give two shits what people think of me any more...

What has been your favorite story to write so far?

Hmmm... probably Zero Degrees - it involved a lot more research than any of the others, because I decided to use references to so many different gods, but it was also one of the most visually creative things I've ever done! I was able to just go crazy, imagining dragons fighting giant spiders in a magical library, and rituals where the hair of a summer god is woven into gloves. It was so much fun! And I have no idea where most of it came from, but it made me realise I enjoy writing magic and magical realism way more than I thought I would!

On the other hand, The Forest Hotel is the only book I've ever written where it turned out pretty much how I wanted it to, practically on the first draft! I did like 7 edits anyway, but they weren't huge plot edits, more adding things in, and I'm still happy with how it turned out!

Why did you start writing? Why are you still writing?

…I really wanted to. That’s basically it? It seems like the more I write, the more ideas I get, and I love that feeling of creating something that I would want to read. These characters live in my head and I get to just peer into their world every now and again to see how they're doing, and it's just so enriching to me. I love it. I write because I want to, and I publish because it brings in a little bit of money and therefore justifies me writing a bit more ;)

Tagging anyone else who writes original fic! Off the top of my head I can think of @chronicintrovert , @focusdumbass, @deborah-writes, @luninosity, @nano-writer, @elizabethhollowswriting and @mosellegreen! If you also write original fic and I haven’t tagged you, please feel free to do this and tag me! I want to know!!

#original ramblings by Lyn H #Lyn's Writing #tag game #tag you're it #Zero Degrees #The Forest Hotel #morningstar #Book Recommendations

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