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yippee more reading !!!! spoilers for lone women by victor lavalle under the cut!

ohhh my lord this book was so good. the atmosphere, the characters, the plot !!!!!!!! this is one of those stories where the setting/landscape really feels integral or like another character... if this story had taken place anywhere else, it wouldn't have been the same at all. the cold montana winds and mountains and just. flatness was perfect. the darkness. the imagery of a single light out on the plains in the dark. wonderful amazing showstopping i love her she was brutal. as for the actual characters, i loved all the characters the audience was supposed to love, and hated all the characters the audience was supposed to hate oml the reeds. fuck them jfc like the very quiet subtlety of mrs. reed at first like how. above it all she seemed from the jump even as she was positioned as a community focused figure in the beginning... there's always something off with extremely small town rich white women... and sam.... and elizabeth... and adelaide and birdy and fiona and grace and ough...... theres so much more i have to say but i cant keep my thoughts in a straight line about it so ill try to be coherent but. no promises. anyways i totally loved the ending as well... at first i thought it was going in a kind of lindwrym direction through the power of sisterly and familial love but. honestly i think i like it better that elizabeth just stayed as a dragon and entertained the kids in the new town like thats so fucking awesome i love that. imagine your sister being a dragon its fucking awesome. and i'm glad that adelaide learned to love her sister as she is through all of these other women who are also seen as outcasts and queer folk. grace who murdered her husband and has a imo adhd coded trans son (also thought it was funny and very very relevant and fitting that the conservative rich lady was pretty chill with murder and not with letting her child be happy. like yeah man thats it right there) birdy who was one of two black people in town, one of one living black person, before adelaide arrived, and was dating a young chinese woman. all outcasts, all with their own burdens, and adelaide found them through her sister and her stuggles, and herself and her need for connection. going back to the landscape, one of my fav scenes was when adelaide and fiona were traveling through glendale (if that's what it's called icr and i havent seen it spelled lol) and how eerie and creepy that was, how it was never really explained, and how ig shit like that just happens in montana. like yeah ill believe that. also probably part of the reason why everyone was so ready to believe that theres a flying monster out on the plains killing people. also supported by the fact that allegedly a black woman summoned it. but either way i had a really good time listening to the audiobook, the narrator did a fantastic job and i ate that shit up. 5/5 creepy as fuck and i liked it

#lone women #thoughts.txt #book review

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i'm listening to gathering moss, by robin wall kimmerer, and she is talking about a very odd job she was consigned to do, where an eccentric millionaire recuited her to consult on a "habitat restoration". when she arrives, the job they actually want her to do is to tell them how to plant mosses on the rocks in his garden. he wants it to look like a specific, beautiful wild cliff in the woods nearby, with centuries-old beds of moss growing thick and strong. she tells him it is impossible. such a thing would take decades to accomplish.

later, she is called back to look at the progress of the moss garden and is amazed by the thick, well-established mosses. how did they do it? she asks.

then they take her out to the woods and show her that they have been blasting huge chunks of rock out of the cliff, packaging them in burlap, and moving them to the owner's garden.

#shes my fav author ever

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Books Read in 2024

The Only Good Indians by Stephen Graham Jones

When the whole world hurts, you bite it. Don't you?

#the only good indians #moodboard

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The Only Good Indians cover by Vincent Chong

#the only good indians #art

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Currently reading The Only Good Indians by Stephen Graham Jones and had to pause and try to sketch Elk Head Woman

(no spoilers please, I haven't finished the book yet)

#art #the only good indians

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This year some of my favourite books I read were written by indigenous American authors and I just wanted to shout out a couple that I fell in love with

The Only Good Indians by Stephen Graham Jones

Horror being my second most read genre, I did not think books could still get under my skin the way this one did lol. It follows four Blackfoot men who are seemingly being hunted by a vengeful... something... years after a fateful hunting trip that happened just before they went their separate ways. The horror, the dread, the something... pure nightmare fuel 10/10

Moon of the Crusted Snow by Waubgeshig Rice

An apocalyptic novel following an isolated Anishinaabe community in the far north who lose contact with the outside world. When two of their young men return from their college with dire news, they set about planning on how to survive the winter, but when outsiders follow, lines are drawn in the community that might doom them all. This book is all dread all the time, the use of dreams and the inevitability of conflict weighs heavy til the very end. An excellent apocalypse story if you're into that kind of thing.

My Heart is a Chainsaw by Stephen Graham Jones

This book follows Jade, a deeply troubled mixed race teenager with a shitty homelife who's *obsessed* with slasher movies. When she finds evidence that there's a killer running about her soon-to-be gentrified small town, she weaponises that knowledge to predict what's going to happen next. I don't think this book will work for most people, it's a little stream of consciousness, Jade's head is frequently a very difficult place to be in, but by the last page I had so much love for her as a character and the emotional rollercoaster she's on that I had to mention it here.

Elatsoe by Darcie Little Badger

Taking a bit of a left turn but this charming YA murder mystery really stuck with me this year. Elatsoe is a teenage girl living in an America where myths, monsters, and magic are all real every day occurrences. When her cousin dies mysteriously with no witnesses, she decides to do whatever she can, including using her ability to raise the spirits of dead animals, to solve the case. The worldbuilding was just really fun in this one, but the Native American myths and influence were the shining star for me, and the asexual rep was refreshing to see in a YA book too tbh

Split Tooth by Tanya Tagaq

The audiobook, the audiobook, the audiobook!!!! Also the physical book because formatting and illustrations, but the audiobook!!! Tanya Tagaq is an Inuit throat singer, and this novel is a genre blending of 20 years worth of the authors journal entries, poetry, and short stories, that culminates in a truly unique story about a young girl surviving her teenage years in a small tundra town in the 70s. It is sad and beautiful and hard but an experience like nothing else I read this year.

#books #tbr #i havent heard of some of these they sound so good

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finished the only good indians by stephen graham jones !! spoilers under the cut!

ohhh my god this book was so gross and gory, exactly what i was expecting and exactly the vibe i was going for !!!! loved it omg !!!! i will not be going into the commentary bc im writing this on my phone during a car ride and i get a lil carsick sometimes so i will try to keep this short but ohhh. ohhhgg my lord. loved the little bits and pieces of second person pov it was really cool and not overused in a way that felt gimmicky... normally i don't like 2nd pov but this was good and used well. and the ending felt very very satisfying, and i loved denorah as a character... lewis' descent into madness... 5/5 stars i had a real good time reading this...

#book review #thoughts.txt #the only good indians

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im sorry are we fucking crazy

this is fucking insane how why when would you say this what do you mean do you want me to kill myself is that what you mean

#you have been haunting yourself from the beginning #<- prev #ohhh okay. okay fuck. okayyyyy

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“Most letters begin with a direct address to the reader.”

(This is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone)

#tihylttw #PRETTTY !!!!!!!!

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every sapphic book i love → this is how you lose the time war by amal el-mohtar and max gladstone

love is what we have, against time and death, against all the powers ranged to crush us down.

#moodboard #tihylttw

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This is How You Lose The Time War

Get it? They’re sumac seeds… btw red is a cardinal and blue is a mountain bluebird

#tihylttw #art

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"I want to be a body for you. I want to chase you, find you, I want to be eluded and teased and adored; I want to be defeated and victorious—I want you to cut me, sharpen me. I want to drink tea beside you in ten years or a thousand..."

#art #tihylttw #oughhh back tattoo

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A common misconception about This is How You Lose the Time War is that Red and Blue are augmented functionally immortal godlike super humans created with advanced dystopian future technologies- they are actually just normal lesbians; dykes can just do that

#yea.

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finished a book !!!!! yippee !!!! updating right after it's finished !!!!! yippee !!!!! spoilers for this is how you loose the time war by amal el mohtar and max gladstone under the cut !!!!!

okay the best absolute best part of this was the prose. like there are so many lovely little soundbites of words that are so so so so beautiful omg. a tumblr webweavers dream !!!!!!!!!! a sweet little book, although towards the end i was getting a little antsy to finish and it dragged just the slightest bit. the plot.... fine. since there were really only two characters, the story really focused only on them emotionally and didn't give as much attention to the rest of it. EMOTIONAL - WISE??? if you get what i mean.... like the descriptions of atlantis falling, or the people all dying with the macbook.... obviously those are tragedies but i didn't feel much emotion during those scenes.... i guess to the characters it really doesn't mean much bc they do this all the time and are agents in a time war and its thus necessary,,,,, but well idk maybe it just isn't for me when there's this much callousness about huge amounts of death. either way, the descriptions we did get of the actual agencies were cool, especially about garden,,,,,, tbh. i think i will have to let this one sit with me for a bit longer to really feel the emotional impact. bc idk if it's just me, but the romance did feel a bit rushed??? idk. idk. either way i thought the writing was beautiful and very very purple, which in some cases i think is necessary and worked well here. it's nice to get a lil overdrawn and fancy sometimes. its fun. 3.75/5 stars.

#book review #thoughts.txt #this is how you lose the time war

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okay i'm back i am doing reviews for all the books i've read so far in 2024 which isn't a lot i have been mostly knitting recently but. oh well spoilers for the tagged books under the cut

first in 2024, i read Human Acts by Han Kang: this was such a beautiful and tragic book and fascinating as well, having known very little about the riots in south korea before reading this. definitely made me want to learn more and was overall a haunting and lovely story. will probably read more from this author! 4/5 stars

-Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia: this book was so much fun omg like the vibes were perfect i loved the mc and how she took absolutely no shit from that damn family and her cringefail loser bestie that she took along with her and her relationship with her sister !!!!! all in all a very good book with wonderful characters and a very satisfying ending 5/5 stars

-The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins: i was very nervous going into this and the reason why it took me so long to read was because i had gotten it into my head that this prequel was some cash grab by publishers/the author but omg suzanne im so sorry i should have never thought that bestie. getting to see into the mind of snow was really interesting, not only for the compelling plot/story but also for the insight and lessons that we all need to remember as many others have already pointed out, the second u see someone as less than human/other, is the second you've already lost it. its over. and how throughout the entire book even though snow comes to love (if you can call it that) lucy gray, he speaks of her as if she's his possession. his to keep, how she can only belong to him. and he seems to have this disconnect between lucy gray and everyone else who's district. and because lucy gray isn't technically district, she's covey, in his mind he will always see those in the districts as lesser than. despite lucy gray. whom i loved absolutely by the way like she's a wonderful character. 4.75/5

most recently i read Sands of Arawiya by Hafsah Faizal: this duology is so fun omg. the magic system is fun, the characters are all fun, and i love all the relationships in the duology. the first one was a reread for me, i wanted a refresher on the story before i got into the second one and had a grand old time. the imagery is so lush and strong and one of my fav parts of the books. 4/5 stars

yay, that's everything. the blog is all caught up! will try to update/post more frequently but i say this everytime and fail. womp womp. happy reading !

#book review #thoughts.txt #human acts #mexican gothic #the ballad of songbirds and snakes #sands of arawiya #we hunt the flame #we free the stars

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MORE READING UPDATES OMLLLLLLL i forgor about this blog again. it will happen again tbh but i still have to go through all of the books i finished in late 2023 up to now... i'm gonna try and get as many as i can done but probably wont get all of them lol. probably very long post/rant + spoilers for various books under the cut

keep in mind i have shit memory and all of these books were finished a while ago so be warned for bad analysis and summaries

-How High We Go in the Dark by Sequoia Nagamatsu: this book was a collection of short stories that are interconnected through characters and a central storyline - a plague. i thought the concept was super interesting and i had heard really good things about it from people i share a reading taste with so i went into this expecting to be blown away and i just. wasnt. i LOVED some of the short stories and there were a few that made me cry, mainly snortorious and the robot dog story where the mom died, but other than that it was kinda a let down. the ending fucking sucked ngl. like i thought we were leading up to some profound moment, especially calling back to the chapter where people are relieving their memories in the dark, because i thought that was really compelling and interesting, but it was just fucking aliens. like it reallly feels like a cop out to me. like a whole "and it was all just a dream" type ending. im not gonna rate it actually yes i am i'd give it like 2.5-3 stars. only because some of the chapters were super hard hitting but other than that. meh.

-The Raven Cycle by Maggie Stiefvater: WHOOOOO BOY. i ate this shit up. god if i had read this in middle school or high school i am 100% certain it would have become my entire personality. like i fucking get it. i totally fucking get it. i'm treating the whole series as one book rn bc they all kinda blend together in my mind and its been a while but just. the fucking vibes. good lord the vibes were so good. can't pick out any 100% certain things i particularly noticed but i will reblog every webweave about this series there is trust. rating the entire series as 5 stars mostly because i listened to the audiobook and they did SUCH A GOOD JOB ON TH E AUDIOBOOK OML like. at first i was kinda thrown off bc i wasn't expecting it to be so. southern? but once i finished the first one i knew there was no way i could just go back to reading it with a physical book like audiobook all the way the narrator was so awesome and i love the southernness of it.

-What Moves the Dead by T. Kingfisher: my first t. kingfisher book! i loved the vibes, the world, the whole new set of pronouns, that shit was so fun, overall a nice short and sweet creepy ass fucking book. like im a huge wimp so i was deffo nervous and freaked out at some points, especially with the rabbits lol idk why but those were unnerving. the author did a really good job of conveying the mc's anxiety and fear while also adding in some humor and soldier rationality and stoicism. lol. cute i liked it 3.5/4 stars.

-Fault Lines by Emily Itami: tbh mostly picked this one up for the cover and it was really just a standard cheating story where the mc gets back together with her original husband because of their kids. nothing i remember to be groundbreaking at all really. 2.5 stars

-Olga Dies Dreaming by Xochitl Gonzalez: I really wasn't expecting to like this book as much as I did. the pov changes i think were very well done and intentional and weren't confusing at all! the narrators for the audiobook were wonderful and really brought life to the story, a lovely book.

-She Who Became the Sun by Shelley Parker-Chan: honestly, looking back on it, i was never really captivated by this story. it took me a long time to get into it, and i really never connected with any of the characters. a lot of it was more confusing than not, and i'm honestly not sure if i feel the need to continue the series. may be a case of me not being in the right mood for it, but i don't see myself trying it again. kinda sad cuz i was excited to love this but oh well. win some lose some.

-Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doerr: hands down my fav book of 2023 and one of my fav books of all time. like i have a feeling this review is going to be either very long or very short because there is no way i will be able to write out all the ways i love this book. the owl motif. the environmental extremism from seymore that i can 100% relate to. the way that he fell down that path in a way that felt realistic to me, based on his circumstances, and it isn't implied in my opinion, that all autistic people are like this, that all autistic people can take things to the extreme like seymore did. the audiobook was wonderful. the interconnected stories over time i think is one of my new favorite tropes/plots/metas. if done well (cough how high we go in the dark) it gets me every single time. XENO and everything about him. i was listening to the audiobook at work and during his death i had to fight back tears lol. god. and the kids in the play and how they wanted to end the story.... fuck my life. and konstance and her curiosity and oh my god everything about this book messed me up. 5/5 i think thats all i'll be able to say before i combust.

-Chlorine by Jade Song: what a weird little book. really liked it. audiobook slayed. not much else to say. recommend for weird lesbians. 3.5/4 stars.

-A Dowry of Blood by S. T. Gibson: THE AUDIOBOOK NARRATOR IS SO FUCKING GOOD AT HER JOB I COULD LISTEN TO HER TALK ALL DAY I THINK IM IN LOVE WITH HER. the story was really good love a good vampire story love a good creepy story. fun time. listened to the audiobook in like an hour hour and a half car ride it was a good time. 3.5 stars.

and that ends off all of the books i read in 2023 !!!!!!! YIPPEEE!!!!! i'll stop here and make a separate post for the books i've read so far in 2024 just for organizational purposes and also because i am hungry and need to stop lol. if you made it this far through the post i love you and also sorry for the long rant but also too bad because this is my blog and you clicked on it. happy reading :)

#book review #thoughts.txt #how high we go in the dark #the raven cycle #trc #what moves the dead #fault lines #olga dies dreaming #she who became the sun #cloud cuckoo land #chlorine #a dowry of blood

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long haired Neil? long haired Neil 😌

#art