abookishidentity

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Books read and finished in February 2025

-The Gone Away World by Nick Harkaway started January 31, 2025 and finished February 4, 2025- 3/5 stars. I think Nick Harkaway does a really good job at writing interesting characters and stories. However it gets to the point where it doesn’t really fit together all that well? I don’t know. At least this was better than the previous book I read of his. I honestly thought the main character was just referring to himself in the third person sometimes. The main character is actually a side of the character he is constantly talking about. It’s interesting. The world is interesting in this book. A new world is going to bring a new kind of people. We shouldn’t destroy these people as the main character is one of these people. Also this book is written in a certain way that makes sense once you are told what the main character is. I didn’t like it at first but I get it. 

-What you are looking for is in the library by Michiko Aoyama started February 4, 2025 and finished February 6, 2025- 3/5 stars. I was given this book to read by someone who says this inspired them. I can see why but this book tries really hard to do that. Too hard in fact. I think some things are lost in translation. I didn’t care for the fat shaming. It was a mixture of Before the Coffee Gets Cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi and The Midnight Library by Matt Haig. Take that as you will. This book did not impress me. 

-The Dissonance by Shaun Hamill started February 6, 2025 and finished February 9, 2025- 4/5 stars. I think I don’t care for the coming of age genre. This book is about a couple of friends going through it and learning magic essentially. I didn’t really care for the parts in which they are teens but more for when they are jaded 30 year olds. Most of the book was about them as teens. There was not enough of Owen in this book. Can’t claim this book is queer if Owen barely shows up. The character of Phillip was weird and interesting. I am not sure how I feel about his relationship with Owen after he had something with the character of Erin. Professor Marsh is an asshole and I’m glad they got rid of him. It was a quick read as the chapters were quite short. 

-Mortal Follies by Alexis Hall started February 10, 2025 and finished February 12, 2025- 3/5 stars. This book was entertaining. Woman gets cursed and has to figure out how to get uncursed and runs into a woman who helps. However the pacing was weird. At the half way point the main character runs into the powerful man who cursed her for “slighting him” at a party and I thought “What's the rest of this book about?” At least she kills him and gets away with it. At a quarter through the book she and the woman declare their lust for each other which seems early for me but whatever. The rest of the book is her getting cursed by the other woman’s curse. The book was fun when the main character’s best friend came around. She was hilarious. 

-Beautyland by Marie-Helene Bertino started February 12, 2025 and finished February 14, 2025- 4/5 stars. A girl is born and she is a messenger of aliens. She is to report her findings to the aliens. It was cute and slice of life. I like that she communicated to them through fax and they would respond. 

-Ink & Sigil by Kevin Hearne started February 15, 2025 and finished February 17, 2025- 4/5 stars. Man I love urban fantasy. This was a joy to read. I like that the main character was in his 60s. That’s different. It took me a bit to get used to the accent people spoke in. The main character was cursed. It's heart breaking that he can’t talk to his son anymore as his son hates him. The more he talks out loud to people the more they hate him. So he talks through his phone which is entertaining. 

-The Masked City by Genevieve Cogman started February 17, 2025 and finished February 19, 2025. 3/5 stars. This book irritated me. Kai is overpowered and had to be kidnapped to be sold in an auction. Glad it never came to that. Kai works well with Irene. They have good chemistry. What bothered me most is that not only there's Lord Silver trying to seduce and control Irene but there was also the villain of the book trying to do the same thing. Fucking hated it. Not only that but then Vale had to save Irene. That was really annoying. At least she was able to kill the villain of the book. 

-The Burning Page by Genevieve Cogman started February 20, 2025 and finished February 22, 2025- 4/5 stars. This book was much better. I’m glad I kept reading the series. This series is so damn cool. I didn’t think dragons would be a huge part of this series. Alberich is a much more interesting villain. Irene deals with so much shit all the time. Now she is figuring out that her parents aren’t her birth parents.  

-The Lost Plot by Genevieve Cogman started February 23, 2025 and finished February 25, 2025- 4/5 stars. This book had a cool aesthetic. 1920s prohibition New York with mobsters, dragons and the fae. It was neat. She is told that she is adopted like in a really off handed way.

-The Mortal Word by Genevieve Cogman started February 26, 2025- Still reading this book. Irene deals with so much bullshit. I wonder if we get to meet her parents who are being used as hostages in this book.

[abookishidentity]

Imagine Jonathan Swift posting A Modest Proposal on tumblr and his response to the backlash being like

Edit: THIS IS MOCKING ANTI-POOR AND ANTI-IRISH SENTIMENTS I AM NOT TELLING POOR IRISH PEOPLE TO ACTUALLY SELL THEIR BABIES TO BE ACTUALLY EATEN???

Edit 2: STOP SENDING ME DEATH THREATS I AM NOT CONDONING INFANT CANNIBALISM!!!

[abookishidentity]

Oh it's nice to get into a series. It's also nice that a lot of the books have been found at the libraries I frequent.

I'm really am glad I am reading The Invisible Library series.

[abookishidentity]

Types of books I read in high school

Dystopian YA. I'm sure I read a lot of popular ones. Like Hunger Games, Divergent, Delirium, Matched, Legend. Those are all the ones I can think of.

Weird Science fiction. Like William Sleator 

Books I can only describe as "teenage girl having memory issues due to a traumatic event and you don't know what is taking place in reality or in her imagination"

[abookishidentity]

Murder in the Dressing Room by Holly Stars

Drag isn't just dramatic. It's deadly…

By day, shy hotel accountant Joe hides behind their desk and plays by the rules.

By night, Joe takes to the stage as Misty Divine, an upcoming star of the London drag scene.

But when Misty’s mentor, Lady Lady, is found dead in her dressing room, Misty finds herself in the spotlight for all the wrong reasons.

Because Lady Lady was murdered – and as the only ones with access to her room, Misty and her fellow performers quickly become prime suspects.

Heartbroken by the loss, and frustrated by the inaction of the police, Joe is determined to uncover the killer in their midst.

But what can they, a mere hotel accountant, possibly do?

This is a case for Misty Divine…

[abookishidentity]

Avast!: Pirate Stories from Transgender Authors, edited by Michael Earp and Alison Evans

Get ready to set sail with a crew of rebels and misfits in this thrilling anthology of pirate tales. From CD burners to space pirates with an otherworldly crew, these stories blur the lines between criminal and separatist, playful and heartfelt and showcase a range of unique characters and found families.Featuring seven long-form pieces of writing, including a graphic novella and a verse novella, this collection has been edited by and features trans and non-binary writers, ensuring a fresh and diverse perspective on the pirate genre. So come aboard and discover a world of queer pirates, grey morals and homebrewed ale.

[abookishidentity]

Books I recently checked out of the library

The Masked City

The Burning Page

The Mortal Word

The Lost Plot

All by Genevieve Cogman. I figured I'd start reading this series again. It is a fascinating world. I'm currently on The Burning Page. I like Irene so much. She's like "I don't have time for this shit! I got to do my job!" I find it interesting when Kai changes into his dragon form and flies them to places. It's quite intriguing when many different creatures exist at the same time. I have never read a book series in which this included dragons as well.

[abookishidentity]

I need to read more of Kevin Hearne's work. I like his style. Ink & Sigil is the kind of urban fantasy that I really like.

Usually the main characters are in their 30s but the main character in this book is 60. It's interesting stuff. He's also cursed and because of that he can't be with his family.

[abookishidentity]

Desperately trying to finish listening to this audiobook before Libby repos my shit

[abookishidentity]

I recently read this book called Mortal Follies by Alexis Hall. The best part of this book to me was the main character's friend named Miss Bickle. She was absolutely hilarious and just so supportive of her friend and what was going on.

I knew I was going to be entertained highly if the scene featured the main character, Miss Bickle, and Mr. Caesar who is the cousin of the main character.

[abookishidentity]

[abookishidentity]

Books I recently checked out of the library

The Dissonance by Shaun Hamill- This book sounded interesting. I think I found it by browsing the library catalogue. The library I work out only gives you two weeks to check out new books so I am reading this right now. A lot more horror than I was expecting. It has several characters POVS and it's separated by time period. It's an intriguing structure.

Beautyland by Marie-Helene Bertino- Another pick from the catalogue. It sounds like a science fiction book and yet it was in the fiction section. The main character sounds quite intriguing.

Mortal Follies by Alexis Hall- This book has A Marvelous Light by Freya Marske vibes. Regency era and fairies and witches? That sounds like fun to read. Probably just as representative as A Marvelous Light too.

Ink and Sigil by Kevin Hearne- Urban fantasy as its best. I really want to read Kevin's Iron Druid chronicles but this should be good too. Magic and curses like the previous book. Perhaps I should rearrange the order in which I read these books then.

Total money saved: $103.00

[abookishidentity]

Books finished in January 2024

-The Village Library Demon-Hunting Society by C.M. Waggoner started December 30, 2024 and finished January 1, 2025 -4/5 stars. This book was quite interesting. The first few chapters felt different than the rest of the book. The main character was an amateur detective who helped the police catch criminals and such. The reason that there was so much murder in this quaint little town and it was stuck on a time period with no internet access was because of a demon who liked seeing her solve these crimes. Then there was a tone change and shift when this is realized. The book became more interesting after this. I need to read other C.M books.

-Persephone Station by Stina Liecht started January 2, 2025 and finished January 5, 2025- 4/5 stars. Good representation, good science fiction elements, and I liked the plot. It was fun and I liked the characters a lot. It had cool aliens in it too. They had to protect the aliens from capitalism essentially. Characters meeting the aliens/the original people who lived on the land and having to protect them from invading forces is always good to read.

-Network Effect by Martha Wells started January 6, 2025 and finished January 8, 2025- 4/5 stars. It's always good to read about Murderbot again. They are such an interesting character. I liked how different this book was. We got the perspective of murderbot, a different killerware version of it, and a newly freed SecUnit. That was cool. I love Muderbots interactions with the humans. Muderbot seems to be having major feelings in this book.

-Leviathan Wakes by James S.A. Corey started January 8, 2025 and finished January 13, 2025- 3/5 stars. I did not care for this book overall. It was cool that humans populated different planets and there was this virus going around infecting people. But this book was written and published in a different time. If I had read this over ten years I may have enjoyed it but sadly I don't now. There were lines here and there that made me want to throw the book. Also I don't want to read about cops. Even though Miller was fired and all that, an ex cop is still a cop. Not going to read more of this series.

-My Heart is Human by Reese Hogan started January 13, 2025 and finished January 15, 2025- 4/5 stars. This was easier to digest than the previous book. A young trans father doing everything he can to provide for his daughter and gets an advanced AI implanted in his head. This is a world in which technology, like computers and robots, are shut down because of some virus. It seemed at first that all technology was banned but that seemed like it would be unrealistic. It does exist just in basic forms. Once again, the main character essentially falls for a cop. Also I don't know how you can have a relationship with someone if you had shot them in the stomach. Overall a good book though.

-A Bid to Rule by Novae Caelum started January 16, 2025 and finished January 20, 2025- 4.5/5 stars. This is the first book in the series technically but it's the third to be published? Anyway its a prequel which means there isn't much tension because you know at least three characters aren't going to die. This is such a fascinating world. The rulers can do shapeshifting and can really fall into the characters they are trying to be. The main character does an inception kind of shapeshift. He was pretending to be a certain character who was pretending to be another character. It's fucking wild. Good series. I highly recommend.

-Lady Eve’s Last Con by Rebecca Fraimow started January 21, 2025 and finished January 23, 2025- 4/5 stars. A woman tries to con a rich ass man to marry her so she can take half his money but the man's stepsister is on to her con. It's gay and it's in space. What more do you want? I liked this a lot.

-Gnomon by Nick Harkaway started January 24, 2025 and finished January 28, 2025- 3/5 stars. Interesting plot. I like that it's different than the other book I read of the author. I wish we got more of the actual scary science fiction setting instead of the stories of the people in the dissident's head. The book was way too long. Or perhaps I just wasn't into it as I should have been. I like the ending though.

-Bookshops and Bonedust by Travis Baldree started January 29, 2025 and finished January 30, 2025- 4.5/5 stars. This book was so relaxing to read after the previous book. I liked this book more than Legends and Lattes mostly because I just love reading about bookstores and libraries. I loved Potroast and Fern's way of talking. Sachel was incredibly cool as well. This was such a fun and quick read.

[abookishidentity]

A sentence I liked in a book

"Even the tensest moments in life can offer small lulls to quiet a terrified heart."

From My Heart is Human by Reese Hogan

[abookishidentity]

Fuck you, Neil Gaiman.

[abookishidentity]

Catnip by Vyria Durav

For all his life, Sol has believed he's only worthy of affection as long as he's useful--and he intends to prove his ultimate use by restoring a colony on Venus as a new home for his friends and lovers. But upon arriving, he realizes there's more here than he bargained for. For one, the resident artificial intelligence wants to make friends with him. For another, the nanites want to completely change his body… and in the process reveal her true self. Stuck (or perhaps blessed?) with a new form, she must find out what it means to live, to be loved for who she is rather than her work.

Catnip is a cozy space exploration novel about a trans woman's journey to find herself and what it means to be loved for who she is, with the help of her polycule and a lesbian AI.

[abookishidentity]

A conversation in a book that I liked

Person 1: "I have to read The Great Gatsby. Which is a nightmare."

Person 2: "Why? Because it extols the virtues of capitalism or something?"

Person 1: "No, because it's fucking boring."