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justanorthernlight) wrote2023-11-08 11:12 am
justanorthernlight) wrote2023-11-08 11:12 am
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Reading Wrap-Up: October 2023 -- 2023 Reading Goal Achieved!
My Year of Rest and Relaxation by Ottessa Moshfegh -
In the year 2000, a recently-orphaned art school grad decides to deal with her complicated grief and other mental health issues by "hibernating," or conning an incompetent psychiatrist into giving her a ridiculous amount of sleep meds and using her inheritance to spend an entire year with no obligations except sleeping as much as possible (which is kind of a mood).
It's weird, ~edgy~, and often gross, and it reminds me intensely of a Chuck Palahniuk novel without the violence (it reminded me so much of Fight Club without the fight-clubbing, the protagonist even remains nameless throughout). I can't decide how I feel about it. There were parts I loved and parts that just kind of left me frowning in disgust.
What If 2: Additional Serious Scientific Answers To Absurd Hypothetical Questions by Randall Munroe (nonfiction) -
Munroe's work is always delightful to me. I actually got this book around Christmas last year but I was saving it for a time I was particularly sad and needed a pick-me-up, and it worked! As the title says, it's an exploration of the science involved in various absurd hypothetical scenario, whether they're possible or not, and the horrible unexpected consequences that would result from doing them.
I especially loved the Billion Story Building chapter, the lava lamp made with actual lava, the "Weird & Worrying" short answer sections, and every time he uses the [citation needed] tag. Examples include: "Cold things and hot things are different [citation needed]," "Sand is interesting [citation needed]," "The Earth's crust contains a bunch of atoms [citation needed]."
The Will of the Empress (The Circle Reforged #1) by Tamora Pierce (audiobook) -
~2(? or possibly 4?) years after the Circle Opens quartet, the four are back in Emelan changed, distant from each other, and making the awkward transition into adulthood no longer tied to Winding Circle Temple. When Sandry is prodded to travel to Namorn to check up on her estates there for the first time since childhood and to visit the royal court of her cousin, Empress Berenene, Duke Vedris asks the other three to accompany her for protection. There's romance, intrigue, and coming of age stuff for everyone.
Court intrigue fantasy is one of my guilty pleasure genres, and I enjoyed how balanced the plot was between the four main characters, even if the overarching plot is more focused on Sandry. Each of the four gets their chance to shine. Also, we get some canonical LGBTQ+ content as Daja gets a girlfriend (and Lark and Rosethorn are retrospectively revealed to be more than roommates living in a cottage raising children together... I think I read somewhere that Pierce wanted them explicitly together from the outset but the publisher quashed it up to this point). This book also came out around the time YA was emerging as it's own genre, and it's much longer and deals with more mature themes than the earlier books.
The Poisoner's Handbook: Murder and the Birth of Forensic Medicine in Jazz Age New York by Deborah Blum (nonfiction) -
I picked this up while at Barnes & Nobles while looking for something else, it's very interesting and focuses on the work of Charles Norris and Alexander Gettler to create a functional (and de-politicized) medical examiners' office and toxicology laboratory in New York City. It touches on the Tammany Hall political machine of the late 1910s through the 1930s, Prohibition & bootlegging, the rise of industrial chemistry and it complete lack of safety regulations, as well as actual murders. I found it very interesting.
Melting Stones (The Circle Reforged #2) by Tamora Pierce (audiobook) -
Set concurrently with The Will of the Empress, while Briar is away in Namorn Evvy and Rosethorn travel to the Battle Islands to figure out why a bunch of their plants are dying. Turns out it's a volcano about to blow. This was more of a return to the style of the original quartet of books- Evvy explores her rock magic while dealing with interpersonal issues with other kids. It's more middle grade than YA.
I didn't like it very much, it's a first person narration and Evvy's voice actress has a pretty whiny voice, the magical parts are very repetitive, and I disliked how the interpersonal issues were handled. It's established that during the two year time skip between Street Magic and these two books Briar, Evvy, and Rosethorn got caught up in a war in a foreign country and all have PTSD from the experience (the final book in this series, Battle Magic, goes back and covers those events). Evvy is about 14 (I think, the ages flew by in the audiobook), and at one point yells at a younger kid for breaking one of her prized possessions after being told not to touch it and everyone acts like Evvy is a complete monster for being upset, to an extent that I did not understand at all. It was like a bad fanfic where the author's only goal is to punish a character they hate.
How To Keep House While Drowning: A Gentle Approach to Cleaning and Organizing by KC Davis (nonfiction) -
The nicest thing I can say about this book is that it's target audience has a very different set of mental health issues that get in the way of cleaning than I do. It's very TikTok-y (the author got her start on TikTok), and it seems to be directed at SAHMs with very young children who feel ashamed/guilty their house doesn't look like a Pinterest board. I'm sure it's helpful for someone, but that someone is not me.
_____________________________________________________
2023 Reading Goal Progress: 55(!) of 50 total books 🎉🎊🎆✨, 20(!) of 7 nonfiction. I've hit my reading goal for the first time in many years! I only have 1 reading-related 2023 goal left.
Currently Reading: Nonfiction: I'm almost done with Mindfulness in Plain English, Fiction: Translation State by Ann Leckie, Audiobook: Battle Magic (Circle Reforged #3) by Tamora Pierce. Also I'm still picking away at Dune but it's kind of a slog.
In the year 2000, a recently-orphaned art school grad decides to deal with her complicated grief and other mental health issues by "hibernating," or conning an incompetent psychiatrist into giving her a ridiculous amount of sleep meds and using her inheritance to spend an entire year with no obligations except sleeping as much as possible (which is kind of a mood).
It's weird, ~edgy~, and often gross, and it reminds me intensely of a Chuck Palahniuk novel without the violence (it reminded me so much of Fight Club without the fight-clubbing, the protagonist even remains nameless throughout). I can't decide how I feel about it. There were parts I loved and parts that just kind of left me frowning in disgust.
What If 2: Additional Serious Scientific Answers To Absurd Hypothetical Questions by Randall Munroe (nonfiction) -
Munroe's work is always delightful to me. I actually got this book around Christmas last year but I was saving it for a time I was particularly sad and needed a pick-me-up, and it worked! As the title says, it's an exploration of the science involved in various absurd hypothetical scenario, whether they're possible or not, and the horrible unexpected consequences that would result from doing them.
I especially loved the Billion Story Building chapter, the lava lamp made with actual lava, the "Weird & Worrying" short answer sections, and every time he uses the [citation needed] tag. Examples include: "Cold things and hot things are different [citation needed]," "Sand is interesting [citation needed]," "The Earth's crust contains a bunch of atoms [citation needed]."
The Will of the Empress (The Circle Reforged #1) by Tamora Pierce (audiobook) -
~2(? or possibly 4?) years after the Circle Opens quartet, the four are back in Emelan changed, distant from each other, and making the awkward transition into adulthood no longer tied to Winding Circle Temple. When Sandry is prodded to travel to Namorn to check up on her estates there for the first time since childhood and to visit the royal court of her cousin, Empress Berenene, Duke Vedris asks the other three to accompany her for protection. There's romance, intrigue, and coming of age stuff for everyone.
Court intrigue fantasy is one of my guilty pleasure genres, and I enjoyed how balanced the plot was between the four main characters, even if the overarching plot is more focused on Sandry. Each of the four gets their chance to shine. Also, we get some canonical LGBTQ+ content as Daja gets a girlfriend (and Lark and Rosethorn are retrospectively revealed to be more than roommates living in a cottage raising children together... I think I read somewhere that Pierce wanted them explicitly together from the outset but the publisher quashed it up to this point). This book also came out around the time YA was emerging as it's own genre, and it's much longer and deals with more mature themes than the earlier books.
The Poisoner's Handbook: Murder and the Birth of Forensic Medicine in Jazz Age New York by Deborah Blum (nonfiction) -
I picked this up while at Barnes & Nobles while looking for something else, it's very interesting and focuses on the work of Charles Norris and Alexander Gettler to create a functional (and de-politicized) medical examiners' office and toxicology laboratory in New York City. It touches on the Tammany Hall political machine of the late 1910s through the 1930s, Prohibition & bootlegging, the rise of industrial chemistry and it complete lack of safety regulations, as well as actual murders. I found it very interesting.
Melting Stones (The Circle Reforged #2) by Tamora Pierce (audiobook) -
Set concurrently with The Will of the Empress, while Briar is away in Namorn Evvy and Rosethorn travel to the Battle Islands to figure out why a bunch of their plants are dying. Turns out it's a volcano about to blow. This was more of a return to the style of the original quartet of books- Evvy explores her rock magic while dealing with interpersonal issues with other kids. It's more middle grade than YA.
I didn't like it very much, it's a first person narration and Evvy's voice actress has a pretty whiny voice, the magical parts are very repetitive, and I disliked how the interpersonal issues were handled. It's established that during the two year time skip between Street Magic and these two books Briar, Evvy, and Rosethorn got caught up in a war in a foreign country and all have PTSD from the experience (the final book in this series, Battle Magic, goes back and covers those events). Evvy is about 14 (I think, the ages flew by in the audiobook), and at one point yells at a younger kid for breaking one of her prized possessions after being told not to touch it and everyone acts like Evvy is a complete monster for being upset, to an extent that I did not understand at all. It was like a bad fanfic where the author's only goal is to punish a character they hate.
How To Keep House While Drowning: A Gentle Approach to Cleaning and Organizing by KC Davis (nonfiction) -
The nicest thing I can say about this book is that it's target audience has a very different set of mental health issues that get in the way of cleaning than I do. It's very TikTok-y (the author got her start on TikTok), and it seems to be directed at SAHMs with very young children who feel ashamed/guilty their house doesn't look like a Pinterest board. I'm sure it's helpful for someone, but that someone is not me.
_____________________________________________________
2023 Reading Goal Progress: 55(!) of 50 total books 🎉🎊🎆✨, 20(!) of 7 nonfiction. I've hit my reading goal for the first time in many years! I only have 1 reading-related 2023 goal left.
Currently Reading: Nonfiction: I'm almost done with Mindfulness in Plain English, Fiction: Translation State by Ann Leckie, Audiobook: Battle Magic (Circle Reforged #3) by Tamora Pierce. Also I'm still picking away at Dune but it's kind of a slog.