January Reading Update
Feb. 1st, 2023 07:39 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
penwallaGonna try doing these monthly (or bi-monthly if I read more) to see if that helps with consistency.
It was a pretty light month, but I have hopes for the next two months, since I've taken some proper vacation time. 8 books total, with 5 new ones and 3 rereads. A pretty mixed bag in terms of quality.
NEW:
Book Boyfriend by Kris Ripper
2/5. Overall pretty underwhelming. PK is an extremely tedious narrator, his relationship with Art is wholly unconvincing--they're supposed to be best friends? I'm not even sure Art likes PK!--and it just didn't land for me in any way.
A Lady of Rooksgrave Manor by Kathryn Moon
5/5. This is a fun reverse harem monsterfucking romp of a book. I really enjoyed it! I love that it's a book where a woman with a high libido and a desire for sex is applauded for it, but it's also a book where the sexual encounters have a satisfying emotional weight. It strikes a great balance between fun porn and meaningful romance. I'd like to pick up the next one.
Nettle & Bone by T. Kingfisher
5/5. I loved this take on a fairytale. There's something very satisfying about the way it walks the line between fairytale-logic and the conventional logic of a novel, and I thought the horror elements were good, too. I have another one of T. Kingfisher's books and think I'll try to read it this year.
When Women Were Dragons by Kelly Barnhill
2/5. Ugh. This one I didn't particularly like. It's just a very narrow novel with a very confused execution of its ideology. Honestly, I don't know why you would write a book where women sometimes turn into dragons and then spend the whole book fixating on the plight of white housewives and consigning all the interesting intersectional stuff to a few paragraphs of interludes between chapters. Initially it seems like "dragoning" is going to be an analogy, but then the plot really does become about the dragon civil rights movement, except the dragons are perfect and special and can fix the world, which means they succeed immediately, unlike all those pesky actual oppressed people this book excludes, who still struggle to this day.
Lor by Lily Mayne (Monstrous #7)
5/5. Every installment in this series is better than the last. I think I complained during earlier installments that I was sick of the "monster that's just a humanoid with a weird skin color and a big dick x just some guy" dynamic, but then Moth, Seraph, and now Lor have all really shaken up the formula. Lor does a cool thing where it takes us back in time, before the plot of the series begins, and gives us a look at the world of monsters from the point of view of someone who lives there (and isn't, like Wyn, an ancient misanthrope). The worldbuilding and plot of this series has always been good, but Lor really stood out to me as depicting the culture of the monsters in a cool way. Also, the romance is so sweet!
REREAD:
The Modern Library Writer's Workshop by Stephen Koch
5/5. Originally read this back in college, have read it a couple times since then. It's not saying anything groundbreaking, but it presents basic, useful craft advice in a compelling way.
Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Sir Terry Pratchett
5/5. This is my favorite book of all time. I really have nothing to say about it, except that I think I initially read this one back in high school or early college, and that it's more like an old friend than a book at this point.
Mansfield Park by Jane Austen
4/5. Still a solid novel, but I like it less on reread. I think, at the end of the day, I find the ending of this book a letdown. The book feels like Fanny's going to have a revelation, but she never does.
It was a pretty light month, but I have hopes for the next two months, since I've taken some proper vacation time. 8 books total, with 5 new ones and 3 rereads. A pretty mixed bag in terms of quality.
NEW:
Book Boyfriend by Kris Ripper
2/5. Overall pretty underwhelming. PK is an extremely tedious narrator, his relationship with Art is wholly unconvincing--they're supposed to be best friends? I'm not even sure Art likes PK!--and it just didn't land for me in any way.
A Lady of Rooksgrave Manor by Kathryn Moon
5/5. This is a fun reverse harem monsterfucking romp of a book. I really enjoyed it! I love that it's a book where a woman with a high libido and a desire for sex is applauded for it, but it's also a book where the sexual encounters have a satisfying emotional weight. It strikes a great balance between fun porn and meaningful romance. I'd like to pick up the next one.
Nettle & Bone by T. Kingfisher
5/5. I loved this take on a fairytale. There's something very satisfying about the way it walks the line between fairytale-logic and the conventional logic of a novel, and I thought the horror elements were good, too. I have another one of T. Kingfisher's books and think I'll try to read it this year.
When Women Were Dragons by Kelly Barnhill
2/5. Ugh. This one I didn't particularly like. It's just a very narrow novel with a very confused execution of its ideology. Honestly, I don't know why you would write a book where women sometimes turn into dragons and then spend the whole book fixating on the plight of white housewives and consigning all the interesting intersectional stuff to a few paragraphs of interludes between chapters. Initially it seems like "dragoning" is going to be an analogy, but then the plot really does become about the dragon civil rights movement, except the dragons are perfect and special and can fix the world, which means they succeed immediately, unlike all those pesky actual oppressed people this book excludes, who still struggle to this day.
Lor by Lily Mayne (Monstrous #7)
5/5. Every installment in this series is better than the last. I think I complained during earlier installments that I was sick of the "monster that's just a humanoid with a weird skin color and a big dick x just some guy" dynamic, but then Moth, Seraph, and now Lor have all really shaken up the formula. Lor does a cool thing where it takes us back in time, before the plot of the series begins, and gives us a look at the world of monsters from the point of view of someone who lives there (and isn't, like Wyn, an ancient misanthrope). The worldbuilding and plot of this series has always been good, but Lor really stood out to me as depicting the culture of the monsters in a cool way. Also, the romance is so sweet!
REREAD:
The Modern Library Writer's Workshop by Stephen Koch
5/5. Originally read this back in college, have read it a couple times since then. It's not saying anything groundbreaking, but it presents basic, useful craft advice in a compelling way.
Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Sir Terry Pratchett
5/5. This is my favorite book of all time. I really have nothing to say about it, except that I think I initially read this one back in high school or early college, and that it's more like an old friend than a book at this point.
Mansfield Park by Jane Austen
4/5. Still a solid novel, but I like it less on reread. I think, at the end of the day, I find the ending of this book a letdown. The book feels like Fanny's going to have a revelation, but she never does.
