#Ellen Mandell

[mitjalovse]

Some session musicians should have been more known on their own thanks to the promise they did augment on the pieces they did under their own names alone. Ellen Foley, for instance, should've had a much better solo career. Mind you, she's doing fine, but she remains heavily underappreciated despite her eclecticism. Check her debut – you can tell she sang many backing vocals to Meat Loaf. Thus, Night Out combines her Jim Steinman experience with Ziggy Stardust as both Mick Ronson and Ian Hunter produced the record. However, this mixture may sound off – I ask myself what would Steinman have done with Bowie –, yet the whole thing functions much better than one could've assumed. The tune on the link, for instance, might be one of the best expressions of an ephemereal nocturnal euphoria.

[thenerdsofcolor]

A Los Angeles Theatre Review: 'God Will Do The Rest'

This may be very inside theatre knowledge but there hasn’t really been an Asian American family play that fully utilizes multiple family members throughout different generations quite like Nicholas Pilapil‘s God Will Do The Rest, now having its world premiere directed by Fran De Leon in a co-joint Artists at Play and Latino Theater Company production. While the play goes through arguably…

[swinging-stars-from-satellites]

the world is dark (and light is precious) : November 2023

Pete Wentz // D.H. Lawrence // Circa Survive, Your Friends Are Gone // Fall Out Boy, Disloyal Order of Water Buffaloes // u.k. // Jack Gilbert // @/thegirlhoodtheory // Emily St. John Mandel, Station Eleven // @/9710144 // Emily Wilson // Fall Out Boy, Disloyal Order // Lauren Zuniga // Patrick Stump, Spotlight (Oh Nostalgia) // Ellen Bass // 1930s book headers and illustrations via @/nemfrog

[ssriuser]

long list of celebs who are currently or have a history of supporting israel if u see someone not on this list please add to it in the comments or tags!!

amy schumer, sacha baron cohen, selena gomez, gal gadot, fran drescher, pharrell williams, jamie lee curtis, sarah silverman, gerard butler, ashton kutcher, katharine mcphee, arnold schwarzenegger, mayim bialik, michael rapaport, floyd mayweather, seal, debra messing, josh gad, noah schnapp, jerry seinfeld, timothee chalamet, madonna, chris rock, bella thorne, adam sandler, eugene levy, james corden, courteney cox, billy porter, barbra streisand, pamela anderson jack black, isla fisher, jason sudeikis, justin timberlake, jessica biel, jon hamm, judd apatow, annabelle dexter-jones, ben stiller, chelsea handler, mandy moore, eli roth, karlie kloss, chloe fineman, natalie portman, helen mirren, michael douglas, josh peck, jason alexander, lance bass, jim gaffigan, kris jenner, florence pugh, liev schreiber, ashley tisdale, reese witherspoon, justin bieber, mila kunis, sofia richie, nina dobrev, paris jackson, rita ora, katy perry, lindsay lohan, dwayne johnson, chris pine, andy garcia, nikki glaser, zachary levi, george lopez, howie mandel, quentin tarantino, nicholas sparks, kathy griffin, heather locklear, sarah michelle gellar, andy cohen, bono, max greenfield, jennifer love hewitt, busy philipps, alison brie, sara bareilles, sarah paulson, brooklyn beckham, jk rowling, patton oswalt, lebron james, jon voight, ellen degeneres, kim karshian, khloe kardashian, demi lovato, slyvester stallone, jessie j, addison rae, jon bon jovi, sharon osbourne, neil patrick harris

[thislovintime]

Peter Tork backstage (with author Ellen Mandell) and onstage at CBGB in New York City on July 31, 1977. Photos 1-3 by Renay Morris; photo 4 and 5 possibly by Meri Browning; photo 6 by Meri Browning, via an old eBay listing.

“In the dressing room before the show [Lester Bangs] asked him why he wanted to play there, and he said, ‘Because I like the atmosphere. The other guys like being up onstage with a full-scale show, and I played one country ‘n’ western set with them, but I like being right down face to face with my audience. It’s like, their jokes are pre-scripted, and I’d rather have my own sense of humor for the between-song patter. This is pretty much a one-show for me; I was booked in here by a journalist friend of mine who’s helping me do a book on the Monkees trip, and after it’s over I’m gonna go back to California and teaching. I couldn’t do this, on the West Coast; CBGB’s is psychedelic.’” - Village Voice, August 8, 1977

“Would Tork, armed only with an acoustic guitar, a piano, and his sharply honed sense of humor, be able to handle those heartless worshippers of blood and gore rock and searing metal demonry? ‘It’ll be okay,’ he said bravely, pointing at his tight, studded T-shirt. ‘If things get tough I’ll give the punks exactly what they want. I’ll threaten to pull these rhinestones out of my chest, one by agonizing one!’ But there proved to be no need for Tork to be anything other than his hokey, folkie (albeit somewhat decadently folkie) self. Booked for a Sunday night, ordinarily CGBG’s lowest night of the week, he packed the place with a strange assortment comprised of cocky regulars, curious record company VIP’s, writers and radio people who’d passed up a concurrent Bad Company party uptown, and giggling fifteen-year-old cuties who’d sneaked in with phony IDs lifted from older sisters’ wallets. The Tork who stepped onstage sported a bristly beard but otherwise still looked strongly like the younger man we remember from our TV screens in days ten years past.”  - Ellen Mandell, Circus, October 13, 1977

Audio of Peter's live appearance, via YouTube.

[professionalintrovert]

How much loss can be carried in a single human frame?

[myepisodecalendar]

The Ellen DeGeneres Show Season 18 - Episode 89: Guest Host Howie Mandel with Heidi Klum, Leslie Jordan, Jackelyn Shultz AirDate: March 1st, 2021, 03:00 PM

[90smovies]

Greedy

[dailyvideovault]

New video posted on: https://dailyvideovault.com/jay-lenos-agt-joke-wasnt-racist-says-alonzo-bodden-as-ellen-pompeo-backs-gabrielle-union-tmz/

Jay Leno's 'AGT' Joke Wasn't Racist, Says Alonzo Bodden as Ellen Pompeo Backs Gabrielle Union | TMZ

[goosemixtapes]

max’s top books of 2021 :3c

top ten bookposting... TWO!!! (you can find last year’s here!) once again, this is ranked completely on the basis of my opinions (which are abstract combinations of “how technically good is this book?” and “how much did i enjoy it?”)

i read... a lot this year. half again as much as last year, because i started uni in august and guess who is taking literature classes! that said, this list was still incredibly difficult to make because Reading More Books does not necessarily equate to Enjoying More Books. under the cut because i have a lot to say.

first off: the runner-ups: American Moor by Keith Hamilton Cobb (a one-man play about being a black man through the lens of Othello; jesus christ the power in this writing; i should reread this); Teenage Dick by Mike Lew (not sure how i felt about the ending but oh my fucking god this is everything.); Milk Fed by Melissa Broder (incredibly striking character voice; started amazing and sagged in the middle imo); History of Wolves by Emily Fridlund (books that feel like getting hit over the head with a baseball bat); and Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel (i know i’m late to this one but. crying cat image)

and my top three anticipated 2022 releases: I Am Margaret Moore by Hannah Capin (what can i say. 2020 left me a hannah capin groupie); Ellen Outside the Lines by A.J. Sass (GAY PEOPLE AND NONBINARY PEOPLE AND NEURODIVERGENT PEOPLE?); and Hell Followed With Us by A.J. White (THIS BOOK... LAST NIGHT I DREAMED I HELD YOU IN MY ARMS.)

without further ado! the list, with my love increasing as the numbers drop:

10. O Human Star by Blue Delliquanti

if you like gaytrans people and robots, you need to read this. if you like gaytrans people but are relatively neutral about robots, you need to read this. if you hate robots. i guess you shouldn’t read this. but it’s FREE ONLINE, so what’s really stopping you from giving it a shot? the entire time i was reading this, my thoughts were split between “ooooooohhhhhmmmmygod this is such a trans story, this is such a trans story, this understands being a closeted trans person and the agonizingly slow process of realizing it better than pretty much anything i’ve ever read” and “PAIN PAIN SUFFERING AGONY PAIN.” and also “GAY PEOPLE KISS ON THE MOUTH A FAMILY CAN BE TWO INVENTORS AND THEIR ROBOT CLONE DAUGHTER.” nearly made me cry in my in-person latin class because i was reading instead of doing my work. 10/10

9. The Chosen and the Beautiful by Nghi Vo

this was one of my most anticipated reads of 2021, and i was right. i was right. it’s a gatsby retelling (already great) starring a bisexual vietnamese jordan baker (even better) WITH MAGIC (!!!) and some of the most breathtakingly beautiful prose i’ve read all year. i read this with a group of friends, and we collectively agreed that the soft magic system was sometimes a little vague (particularly in terms of how magic’s existence affects the rest of society), but that was the only criticism i had because jesus christ this was amazing. falls under the category of retellings make me think “FUCK, the og text is so good” while also being incredibly gripping and gorgeous in their own rights (this is the best category of retellings).

8. The Iliad by Homer

OOOOOOOOO let’s get into the NERD ZONE PART OF THIS POST. i read the iliad twice this year, because i am insane. first so i could read TSOA after it (a book that... i did not love. but that is another matter), then again because i had to for class. you guys, i think homer can write. do not talk to me about hector unless you want to check out how hard i can cry (and on that note, shoutout to An Iliad by Lisa Peterson and Dennis O’Hare because. bark bark bark rufrufrufruf grrrrr bark bark etc) (and also, shoutout to the chilliad.)

7. The Drowning Girl by Caitlin R. Kiernan

i will say flat out that this book is not for everyone. the synopsis is super vague, and the book itself is written in a winding and abstract style that some might find frustrating. but i happen to be the exact target audience of this book about a fictional schizophrenic lesbian writing her fictional memoir about a series of events that might have been Actually Magic or might have been a delusion. this book is SO fucking meta in an absolutely delightful way. there are SO many literary and artistic references. the aforementioned style is deliberately a representation of how imp (the main character)’s mental illness shapes her writing, and as a mentally ill person whose brain ALSO shapes my writing, i loved that, and i love how it tied into the themes, and i love this book a lot, and i wrote a much longer review so i will leave it at that.

6. A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin

. okay. look. look at me. look. it would be SO easy, culturally, homosexually, to hate game of thrones. but this book fucks INCREDIBLY severely. there is a REASON a song of ice and fire has become the template for this kind of fantasy, and that’s because NOBODY IS DOING IT LIKE GEORGE R R MARTIN. putting a dragon and some gritty straight sex in your fantasy novel is not going to make you the next game of thrones!!! there is WORLDBUILDING here!!! there is LORE!!! there is a vast interwoven tapestry of characters who all feel devastatingly human even when they’re terrible!!! there are ICE ZOMBIES? i don’t even care about ice zombies but nobody fucking told me that! i hate george rr martin because i want his job so bad (getting away with writing 800 page fantasy books except mine will be about gay people) but even despite that i can admit that this book deserves the hype. (have been reading the second one at the speed of 1 page per eon while at college. turns out a book of this scale is not the best to read in scattered intervals at college. oh well)

5. The Wicked and the Divine by Kieron Gillen & Jamie McKelvie

i actually don’t read a lot of comics/graphic novels (maybe i should read more? i don’t know; i like prose) and so i had to be coaxed into wicdiv by the esteemed mx. @yvesdot. and thank god for it because oh my god. OH my god. this series takes a rad idea (“hey, pop stars are treated like gods. what if they Were”) and completely fucking slams the gas pedal to 100. the plot twists in this series broke my fucking NECK (two of my reviews read “THIS ISSUE WAS LIKE GETTING HITCHED TO A MEAT HOOK AND HAVING MY BODY SWUNG AROUND AT HIGH VELOCITY WITH A BUNCH OF FLESHY THUNKS AGAINST THE WALL.” and “my head is a mailbox and wicdiv is the group of rowdy teenage kids in cars in the 80s coming to hit me with a baseball bat”). the art is BREATHTAKING; this is a series for people who like women. every character is SO compelling and so horrible and so imperfect and once i started reading it was near impossible to stop. the last volume made me lie in the fetal position on my dorm floor. i made a PLAYLIST for this series. i, a man who only makes playlists for shakespeare shit. the playlist is called “fuck off i am not crying” ADN GUESS WHAT . I WAS

4. The Last True Poets of the Sea by Julia Drake

there are the books that you read in a day or two and enjoy, and then there are the books that you ignore your zoom class to finish while holding in your tears on camera. there are the shakespeare retellings that slap, and then there are the shakespeare retellings written specifically to appeal to mentally ill theater-oriented WLW hyperfixating on twelfth night whose younger brothers are also mentally ill. realllllllly hard to describe the amount of emotions i have for this book. realllllllly hard to not lie facedown on the carpet thinking about it. (no, you don’t have to read twelfth night to read this; yes, you should read it. immaculately written. wonderful book. plus look at that fucking COVER. gay rights)

3. War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy

and once again. we return. to the nerd zone. maybe i have stockholm syndrome. maybe that’s why i’m sitting here about to type “war and peace was maybe the most fun reading experience i had this year.” because if you’re gonna read a 1200 page book, you have to start enjoying it at SOME point, right? just as a defense mechanism? but oh my god war and peace is so legitimately good. i hate tolstoy’s pedantic misogynist pancake ass but that man can write characters in a way that makes me want to levitate off of my chair into the air and/or scream into a pillow. on a serious level: part of my enjoyment is because it’s actually really good; part of it is because i have a whole group of friends who also enjoy war and peace, and so i got to discuss it and listen to their playlists and look at their art. and part of it is definitely because the spring of my senior year of high school, bored out of my mind in my last set of required classes, terrified of the looming shadow of College TM, was probably the best time in my life so far to pick up a doorstop about confused and depressed young adults trying to find their places in the world despite the feeling that they’re wasting their lives and their talents and missing “the answers” of life. also every bitch in this book is gay. listen to great comet

2. The Aeneid by Virgil

we saw this coming, right. like we knew this was coming. the first time i read this poem (notably, when i hadn’t read homer yet and couldn’t pick out all the allusions to the iliad/odyssey) was at the start of 2021, because my ten-person latin 5 class translated it. and i found it kind of boring, but the class was insane (positively. for the most part), and i thought, well, whatever, it’s a decent story even if i don’t like the style of epic poems. and then that Decent Story sunk into every nook and crevice of my brain in the following months and haunted me like the shade of [idk, name someone who dies in the aeneid, there’s a handful] until i finally got to read it again in one of my uni classes and had to physically stop myself from overtaking the entire class with my answers to the professor’s questions and then proceeded to follow the professor after class to talk with (at?) him about it and then made him read two different essays about it. i think when it comes to “thinking about aeneas” i am in the top 100 people on the planet. virgil put his pussy into every single line of this poem and it’s one of my personality traits now

1. The Complete Works of William Shakespeare

speaking of max’s personality traits. okay, here’s the part where i confess that i did not actually read the entire complete works this year. i WANTED to, and intended to, but i didn’t start in earnest until june (i thought i was going to do a book club with a friend! and then we did not.) and as a result of that + uni, i really doubt i’m going to finish the last four or five plays in the next five days. (maybe i could. but i would like to do other things at some point this week.) that said, i DID read twenty-five new shakespeare plays (and hamlet and as you like it again) and most of the sonnets. in general my opinions and meta posting are on my shakespeare blog; specific shout-outs go to my new favorites, ranked just under hamlet and lear: henry iv part 1 (HOTSPUR MY FUCKING BELOVEDDDD. HAL ONE OF THE CHARACTERS OF ALL TIME), julius caesar (this is my version of a page-turner vacation read. both times i’ve read this i did it in 48 hours and i’m insane about brutus and cassius.), and twelfth night (far and away my favorite comedy, and probably my favorite read of the year).

if you’ve read this far, you have to add me on goodreads and we will be legally wed. everyone tell me your favorite reads of the year i want to know

[talkingaboutabusearchive]

Johnny Depp Witnesses

Suit Witnesses  Christine Dabrowski - Depp’s sister  Isaac Baruch - friend and patronee  Brandon Patterson - ECB building manager Kate James - Heard’s former personal assistant  Laurel Anderson - former couple’s counselor  Dr. David Kipper - private doctor for Depp and Heard Debbie Lloyd - private nurse for Depp  Sean Bett - Depp’s security guard Keenan Wyatt - Depp’s on set audio technician  Johnny Depp - himself Ben King - Depp’s house manager  Tara Roberts - Depp’s island manager  Dr. Shannon Curry - forensic psychologist, expert  Melissa Saenz - LAPD police officer Tyler Hadden - LAPD police officer William Gatlin - LAPD police officer  Alejandro Romero - ECB desk clerk Christine Carino - former talent agent for Depp and Heard Laura Wasser - Depp’s divorce attorney  Terrence Daugherty - ACLU COO and General Counsel Edward White - Depp’s business manager Matthew McConaughey - Depp’s security guard Starling Jenkins - Depp’s personal chauffeur and security detail Travis McGivern - Depp’s security guard Jack Whigham -  Depp’s talent agent Richard Marks - Hollywood entertainment, expert Doug Bania - IP consultant, expert Erin Boerum - Heard’s private nurse Michael Spindler - forensic attorney, expert 

Rebuttal Witnesses  Walter Hamada - Warner Bros president of DC films Dr. David Kulber - Depp’s orthopedic surgeon  Richard Marks Michael Spindler Doug Bania  Morgan Night - Hicksville Trailer Park Palace owner Dr. Richard Shaw - psychiatrist, expert Jennifer Howell - Whitney Heard’s former boss Candie Davidson-Goldbronn - CHLA representative  Kate Moss - Depp’s ex-partner Dr. Shannon Curry  Johnny Depp Morgan Tremaine - ex-TMZ employee  Bryan Neumeister - forensic data, expert  Beverly Leonard - Sea-Tac employee  Dr. Richard Gilbert - orthopedic surgeon, expert  

Amber Heard Witnesses

Countersuit Witnesses  Dr. Dawn Hughes - forensic psychologist, expert Amber Heard - herself iO Tillet-Wright - former friend Rocky Pennington - former friend Joshua Drew - former friend/ex-husband of Rocky Pennington  Whitney Heard - Heard’s sister  Elizabeth Marz - former friend Melanie Inglessis - former makeup artist/former friend Kristy Sexton - former acting coach Bruce Witkin - Depp’s former friend Tracey Jacobs - Depp’s former talent agent  Joel Mandel - Depp’s former business manager Adam Waldman - Depp’s former lawyer Detective Marie Sadanaga - LAPD detective  Ron Schnell - social media analyst, expert  Michele Mulrooney - Heard’s former attorney  Tina Newman - Disney executive  Ellen Barkin - Depp’s ex-fling  Dr. Alan Blaustein - Depp’s former psychiatrist  Eric George - Heard’s former attorney  Jessica Kovacevic - Heard’s talent agent  Dr. Richard Moore Jr - orthopedic surgeon, expert  Dr. David Spiegel - psychiatrist, expert  Kathryn Arnold - Hollywood entertainment, expert

Rebuttal Witnesses Julian Ackert - forensic data analyst, expert  Dr. Dawn Hughes Amber Heard

[progressivejudaism]

“Achieving justice is a lifelong pursuit, and we get there by recommitting each day, each year, to doing our part. I'd love to see you on Sunday night from 7-8 pm for a Yom HaTzedek virtual gathering. It's a chance to take stock of what we might do to build a better world. We have fantastic co-hosts (Rain Pryor and Kelly Whitehead), amazing musicians (Kalix Esther and Cantor Ellen Dreskin), plus several other special guests from around the country.”  - Andrew Mandel, Founder of Tzedek Box and Yom Hatzedek.

More info at: bit.ly/yom-hatzedek

[dykevillanelle]

{ yearly booklist: 2020 }

books read: 107 pages read: 30,689

top 5: 1 (best). the faceless old woman who secretly lives in your home (joseph fink & jeffrey cranor) 2. the faggots and their friends between revolutions (larry mitchell & ned asta) 3. a little life (hanya yanagihara) 4. the summer we got free (mia mckenzie) 5. there there (tommy orange)

bottom 5: 5. pleasure activism (ed. adrienne maree brown) 4. the immortalists (chloe benjamin) 3. where the crawdads sing (delia owens) 2. the difference between you and me (madeleine george) 1 (worst). sugar land (tammy lynne stoner)

full list under the cut [in order read, *starred* are recommended]: 

*bluets (maggie nelson)* pleasure activism (ed. adrienne maree brown) as lie is to grin (simeon marsalis) *the mythic dream (ed. dominic parisien & navah wolfe)* what is the what (dave eggers)   *if beale street could talk (james baldwin)* *the stonewall reader (ed. new york public library)* *the water dancer (ta-nehisi coates)* *no name in the street (james baldwin)* honeysuckle (robin gow) where the crawdads sing (delia owens) a tale for the time being (ruth ozeki) *going to meet the man (james baldwin)* *dangerous families (mattilda bernstein sycamore)* *junk (tommy pico)* call down the hawk (maggie stiefvater) answered prayers (truman capote) veils, nudity, and tattoos: the new feminine aesthetics (thorston botz-bernstein) *jacob's room (virginia woolf)* *sag harbor (colson whitehead)* so many ways to sleep badly (mattilda bernstein sycamore) the red parts: autobiography of a trial (maggie nelson) *the cancer journals (audre lorde)* the truth (terry pratchett) sweets: a history of candy *a little life (hanya yanagihara)* *tomboy survivial guide (ivan coyote)* *feed (tommy pico)* *red, white & royal blue (casey mcquiston)* *are prisons obsolete? (angela y. davis)* girl walking backwards (bett williams) the end of san francisco (mattilda bernstein sycamore) guapa (saleem haddad) *tell me how long the train's been gone (james baldwin)* pulling taffy (mattilda bernstein sycamore) love & lies: marisol's story (ellen wittlinger) the difference between you and me (madeleine george) *the body keeps the score (bessel van der kolk)* nimona (noelle stevenson) *priestdaddy (patricia lockwood)* *why are faggots so afraid of faggots?: flaming challenges to masculinity, objectification, and the desire to conform (ed. mattilda bernstein sycamore)* the city we became (n.k. jemisin) over the top (jonathan van ness) huntress (malinda lo) patience & sarah (isabel miller)   *the art of cruelty (maggie nelson)* tricks and treats: sex workers write about their clients (ed. mattilda bernstein sycamore) *the end of imagination (arundhati roy)* the evidence of things not seen (james baldwin) *on earth we're briefly gorgeous (ocean vuong)* *dark days (james baldwin)* trail of broken wings (sejal badani) the lady's guide to petticoats and piracy (mackenzi lee)   peculiar institution: america's death penalty in an age of abolition (david garland) *alice isn't dead (joseph fink)* three parts dead (max gladstone) when brooklyn was queer (hugh ryan)   *the faggots and their friends between revolutions (larry mitchell & ned asta)* the immortalists (chloe benjamin) *semi queer: inside the world of gay, trans, and black truck drivers (anne balay)* three guineas (virginia woolf) *the glass hotel (emily st. john mandel)* the girl who lived twice (david lagercrantz) *chokehold: policing black men (paul butler)* codename villanelle (luke jennings) no tomorrow (luke jennings) die for me (luke jennings) *just above my head (james baldwin)* *sketchtasy (mattilda bernstein sycamore)* *angry white men: american masculinity at the end of an era (michael kimmel)* *how to be an anti-racist (ibram x. kendi)* white fragility: why it's so hard for white people to talk about racism (robin diangelo) *there there (tommy orange)* *toward an intellectual history of black women (ed. mia bay et. al.)* jonah's gourd vine (zora neale hurston) *the faceless old woman who secretly lives in your home (joseph fink & jeffrey cranor) animal dreams (barbara kingsolver) *the adventure zone: petals to the metal (clint mcelroy, carey pietsch, griffin mcelroy, justin mcelroy, travis mcelroy)* *from black power to hip hop: racism, nationalism, and feminism (patricia hill collins)* sugar land (tammy lynne stoner) *nature poem (tommy pico)* *prisoners of politics: breaking the cycle of mass incarceration (rachel elise barkow)*   *all the bad apples (moïra fowley-doyle)* body horror: capitalism, fear, misogyny, jokes (anne elizabeth moore) *the summer we got free (mia mckenzie)* john henry days (colson whitehead) the memory of blood (christopher fowler)   the last smile in sunder city (luke arnold) *the death of vivek oji (akwaeke emezi)* *dust tracks on a road (zora neale hurston)* *an unkindness of ghosts (rivers solomon)* *thick: and other essays (tressie mcmillan cottom)* first test (tamora pierce) the noble hustle: poker, beef jerky, and death (colson whitehead) page (tamora pierce) *patron saints of nothing (randy ribay)* squire (tamora pierce) *this is how it always is (laurie frankel)* hidden (helen frost) jimmy's blues and other poems (james baldwin) 96 words for love (rachel roy & ava dash) *the colossus of new york (colson whitehead)* *heavy (kiese laymon)* *tell my horse: voodoo and life in haiti and jamaica (zora neale hurston)* lady knight (tamora pierce) *nobody knows my name (james baldwin)* *apex hides the hurt (colson whitehead)*

[foreverlostinliterature]

11/30 Book Deals

Good morning and happy Monday, everyone! How are you all doing?? How was your weekend and how are you holding up? It looks like it’s going to be a little warmer this week here, which is odd and not very December-like, but the weather is always weird. Sorry for the lack of posts over the past couple of days, I was just trying to take some time to focus on non-internet things when I could, haha. I just have two papers due this week and two finals and then I’m done with the semester and my excitement for that is far, far too high. 

In regards to books--there are a lot on sale, so definitely be sure to have a look if you want to discover any new books or authors or worlds. :) I could recommend a lot of these, such as The Bone Shard Daughter, We Ride the Storm, The Wolf of Oren-Yaro, The Last Smile in Sunder City, etc., but there are also a ton I haven’t read that I’ve heard awesome things about and hope to read someday myself! Have you read any of these to recommend? Let me know!

Anyway, I hope you all have a truly wonderful start to your day and happy reading! :D I hope you can find something nice to read. :) 

Here is the link to find resources on how you can help out with the BLM movement! Keep the momentum going!

Today’s Deals:

This Savage Song by V.E. Schwab - https://amzn.to/2Jny0qt

A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas - https://amzn.to/3oma5aj

A Court of Frost and Starlight by Sarah J. Maas -  https://amzn.to/3qcV4ZW

An Ember in the Ashes (#1) Sabaa Tahir - https://amzn.to/2JpqRWS

A Torch Against the Night (#2) by Sabaa Tahir - https://amzn.to/39s7YNL

A Reaper at the Gates (#3) by Sabaa Tahir  - https://amzn.to/2Ju2hnH

Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman - https://amzn.to/33rSi9C

The Glass Hotel by Emily St. John Mandel - https://amzn.to/3fOGZgB

Pachinko by Min Jin Lee - https://amzn.to/3fSceY7

A Witch in Time by Constance Sayers - https://amzn.to/33wZuRA

All Souls Trilogy by Deborah Harkness - https://amzn.to/3o97i3T

The Wolf of Oren-Yaro by K.S. Villoso - https://amzn.to/36jGGXZ

Conceal, Don't Feel (A Twisted Tale) by Jen Calonita - https://amzn.to/2JsZf2S

Wonder Woman: Warbringer by Leigh Bardugo - https://amzn.to/2JkZTji

First: Sandra Day O'Connor by Evan Thomas - https://amzn.to/3fOozN1

An American Marriage by Tayari Jones - https://amzn.to/2JmfnUb

We Were the Lucky Ones by Georgia Hunter - https://amzn.to/3lp5CkW

Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard, Bk. 1 by RIck Riordan - https://amzn.to/3o97qAp

Harrow the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir - https://amzn.to/33tolWB

The Bone Shard Daughter by Andrea Stewart - https://amzn.to/3lmZWbl

We Ride the Storm by Devin Madson - https://amzn.to/39t71or

Mind of My Mind (#2) by Octavia E. Butler - https://amzn.to/3o98G6B

The Last Smile in Sunder City by Luke Arnold - https://amzn.to/33uBgaV

Bringing Columbia Home: The Untold Story of a Lost Space Shuttle and Her Crew by Michael D. Leinbach, Jonathan H. Ward - https://amzn.to/33sgHf0

The Lathe of Heaven by Ursula K. Le Guin - https://amzn.to/36mIS0L

The Other Wind (The Earthsea Cycle Bk. 6) by Ursula K. Le Guin - https://amzn.to/36jnPMB

The Legend of Korra: Turf Wars Pt. 1 by Irene Koh - https://amzn.to/3mpWrlH

The Life She Was Given by Ellen Marie Wiseman - https://amzn.to/2JwcTCd

Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer - https://amzn.to/2ViuxMz

The Mountains Sing by Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai - https://amzn.to/39taOSM

Sharon Tate the Manson Murders by Greg King - https://amzn.to/3odEjfd

The Umbrella Academy Vol. 3: Hotel Oblivion by Gerard Way - https://amzn.to/37enie0

Homeland Elegies by Ayad Akhtar - https://amzn.to/2HRmeEk

NOTE:  I am categorizing these book deals posts under the tag #bookdeals, so if you don’t want to see them then just block that tag and you should be good. I am an Amazon affiliate in addition to a Book Depository affiliate and will receive a small (but very much needed!)  commission on any purchase made through these links.

[davidduchovnydefensesquad]

Other upcoming “Ellen” guests include Howie Mandel (October 12), Ludacris (October 13), Alessia Cara (October 13), Chandra Wilson (October 14), The Miz (October 14), guest host Mario Lopez (October 14 & 15), Marlee Matlin (October 15), David Duchovny (October 18)

[ackb]

2020 Reading Challenge Report

I really liked it last year when I made a spread in my journal with my best of books for 2019. So here’s my best of for 2020. 

I was WAY surprised that all my favorite books this year were non-fiction. That doesn't mean I didn’t read any good fiction this year, I definitely did. But the truly outstanding, five star books were all non-fiction. This is super weird for me because I never used to read non-fiction unless it was for school. But last year I made a deal with myself that I should have a non-fiction book as at least one of my books-in-progress at all times. I continued that rule this year and wow have I read some great stuff as a result. 

Metrics:

Total books read in 2020: 87 

If you remove all the books I read with kids, that’s 64. If you remove the books I read with kids and also graphic novels (which—despite being books, goddamn it—admittedly take a lot less time to read), I read 45 books this year.  I refuse to remove the audiobooks because that’s hella insulting.  Audiobooks are books.

One thing I noticed this year is that before I counted, I was under the impression that I had read a lot of books by Black authors this year, but I hadn't. In fact, it was far fewer than last year. I think part of what was internally confusing was that because two of my books were Caste and The Warmth of Other Suns, both substantial (in the thinking sense and the length sense), at any given time this year, I was reading at least one book by a Black author. So that skewed my thinking. Still, fewer than 10% Black authors is a poor metric.

Another thing I noticed was that cancelled plans for 10 months also means cancelled car trips (yay!) and cancelled audiobook listenings (boo!) So that cut into my total a bit, not listening to books as much with the kids. But I'm looking forward to lots more reading in the new year! Including finishing a bunch of books the kids and I are reading for school and tons of stuff for work. Because I like to have things going on every burner, there are 10 books in progress at the moment, about half of them for school. 

In case you might be interested, here’s my list, favorites in bold:

Non-Fiction (23)

Figuring, Maria Popova

Know My Name, Chanel Miller

*The Fire Never Goes Out, Noelle Stevenson

With Purpose and Principle, Edward Frost

Caste, Isabel Wilkerson

The Warmth of Other Suns, Isabel Wilkerson

Widening the Circle of Concern, COIC, UUA

Brief Histories of Everyday Objects, Andy Warner

Breaking and Blessing, Sean Parker Dennison

This Book is Anti-Racist, Tiffany Jewell & Aurelia Durand

The Library Book, Susan Orlean

My Autobiography of Carson McCullers, Jenn Shapland

Furious Hours, Casey Cep

Scrappy Little Nobody, Anna Kendrick

I'll Be Gone in the Dark, Michelle McNamara

Catch and Kill, Ronan Farrow

*Laika, Nick Abadzis

*First Year Out: A Transition Story, Sabrina Symington

* Honor Girl: A Graphic Memoir, Maggie Thrash

*Drowned City: Hurricane Katrina and New Orleans, Don Brown

Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland, Patrick Radden Keefe

*A Quick and Easy Guide to Queer & Trans Identities, Mady G., J.R. Zuckerberg

*Wait, What?: A Comic Book Guide to Relationships, Bodies, and Growing Up, Heather Corinna, Isabella Rotman

Fiction (40)

*Heartstopper, vol 1&2, Alice Oseman

When the Tripods Came, John Christopher

Empty World, John Christopher

You Should See Me in a Crown, Leah Johnson

The Pull of the Stars, Emma Donoghue

Pachinko, Min Jin Lee

My Year of Rest and Relaxation, Ottessa Moshfegh

Girl, Woman, Other, Bernadine Evaristo

*This One Summer, Mariko Tamaki

*Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up with Me, Mariko Tamaki, Rosemary Valero-O'Connell

To Night Owl, From Dogfish, Holly Goldberg Sloan and Meg Wolitzer

* Almost American Girl, Robin Ha

Upright Women Wanted, Sarah Gailey

When We Were Magic, Sarah Gailey

Magic for Liars, Sarah Gailey

The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, Suzanne Collins

The Care and Feeding of Waspish Widows, Olivia Waite

The Dreamers, Karen Thompson Walker

The Water Dancer, Ta-Nehisi Coates

Less, Andrew Sean Greer

*Drama, Raina Telgemeier

The Glass Hotel, Emily St. John Mandel

Severance, Ling Ma

Once, Morris Gleitzman

Then, Morris Gleitzman

Reflections in a Golden Eye, Carson McCullers

The Future of Another Timeline, Annalee Newitz

Royal Rebel, Jenny Frame

*Sidekicks, Dan Santat

The Book of Dust, Philip Pullman

The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane, Kate DiCamillo

*Snapdragon, Kat Leyh

Catfishing on Catnet, Naomi Kritzer

*Princess Princess Ever After,  Katie O'Neill

*The Prince and the Dressmaker, Jen Wang

*All Summer Long, Hope Larson

Children of Virtue and Vengence, Tomi Adeyemi

On the Edge of Gone, Corinne Duyvis

*Kiss Number 8, Colleen A.F. Venable, Ellen T. Crenshaw

*Queen of the Sea, Dylan Meconis

Read With the Kids (23)

Sentence Island, Michael Clay Thompson (NF)

*Hereville: How Minka Got Her Sword, Barry Deutsch

Hatchet, Gary Paulson

The Dreamer, Pam Muñoz Ryan, Peter Sis

Before Columbus, Charles Mann (NF)

Tristan Strong Punches a Hole in the Sky, Kwame Mbalia

In the Footsteps of Crazy Horse, Joseph M. Marshall III

It's a Feudal, Feudal World, Stephen Shapiro and Ross Kinnaird (NF)

Pedro's Journal, Pam Conrad

A Long Way from Chicago, Richard Peck

Sees Behind Trees, Michael Dorris

The Shakespeare Stealer, Gary Blackwood

The Giver, Lois Lowry (reread for me)

The Saturdays, Elizabeth Enright (reread)

Timmy Failure: Mistakes were Made, Stephan Pastis

Jennifer, Hecate, Macbeth, William McKinley, and Me, Elizabeth, E.L. Konigsburg

Sideways Stories from Wayside School, Louis Sachar

Wayside School is Falling Down, Louis Sachar

A Little History of Philosophy, Nigel Warburton (NF)

The Parker Inheritance, Varian Johnson

How to Think Like a Cat, Stephanie Garnier (NF)

Book Scavenger, Jennifer Chambliss Bertman

The Third Mushroom, Jennifer L. Holm

*=graphic novel

I read 87 books this year, by 80 authors

Authors of color = 14 Black authors = 7 Women or non-cis-gender men authors = 53 Graphic novels = 22 Non-fiction = 28 Queer characters = 28 Audiobooks = 26