#Say nothing a true story of murder and memory in northern ireland

[rachel-sylvan-author]

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

Thank you @jesshalfpagereads for the rec! ❤️ I knew this happened, but I didn't realize it happened so recently. Very eye opening!

[redgoldsparks]

June Reading and Reviews by Maia Kobabe

I post my reviews throughout the month on Storygraph and Goodreads, and do roundups here and on patreon. Reviews below the cut.

Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland by Patrick Radden Keefe read by Matthew Blaney 

This is one of the most gripping and well-researched nonfiction books I've read in a long time. Keefe draws on many research trips, interviews, news paper archives, and personal encounters to tell several interwoven narratives of violence and protest during the time of The Troubles in Northern Ireland. He follows the story of the infamous Price sisters, women who joined the IRA while in college, helped plant many bombs, and became hunger strikers after receiving hefty prison sentences; Jean McConville, a widowed mother of ten who was dragged from her home and disappeared by the IRA; Brenden Hughes, a commanding office of the IRA who escaped assassination attempts and prison, who committed a huge amount of violence but ultimately became disillusioned with what he had done; Gerry Adams, who claims he was never an IRA office despite massive evidence to the contrary, who helped negotiate the peace treaty before launching a successive political career; and many more. I highly recommend this book, especially to anyone wrestling with the moral question of violent versus nonviolent resistant, and what the long, messy process of building peace can look like, at least in one specific place and time.

Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata translated by Ginney Tapley Takemori read by Nancy Wu

Keiko Furukura has never fit in with the others around her. Early in elementary school she learned to keep her mouth shut because people often found the things she said (which felt logical and obvious to her) deeply upsetting. But at age 18, Keiko applied for a job at a convenience store and found her life's calling. The store is the only place where she feels really comfortable, needed, useful, and able to interact easily with others inside the routines of customer service. When the book opens Keiko is 36 and has been working the same low level job for her entire adult life. She has no desire for change but others around her are beginning to pressure her more and more to pursue a "normal life", that is, marriage and a better paying job. Keiko can be easily read as an autistic, asexual character; I really enjoyed how her perspective on life was written, even when I enjoyed less the actual things going on around her. A whiny, sleezy man takes up a lot of space in the second half of the story, but I found the ending very hopeful.

How to Love by Alex Norris 

Short, sweet, and insightful. Norris brings the humor of their "Oh No" comic series to this guide to feelings and relationships, but mixed with deep compassion. The visual metaphors are hilarious and perfect.

Becoming Who We Are: Real Stories About Growing Up Trans by Sammy Lisel and Hazel Newlevant and others 

A wonderful collection of short comics about trans people with different stories, experiences, jobs, and dreams. Each story is illustrated by a different artist which gives each tale its own voice. An accessible and affirming collection, especially for young readers!

Fool’s Quest by Robin Hobb read by Elliot Hill

This book picks up right after the traumatic kidnapping at the end of the previous volume, but packs a surprising amount of big plot twists in before the journey to recover the young people even begins. This book suffers from some middle book of a trilogy pacing issues; the action beats of the story sometimes falling at awkward spots, and the story continuing past what might have felt like its more natural ending. That didn't stop me from being RIVETED during the entire 33 hour audiobook. I am so obsessed with these characters. I feel the weight of everything they've been through, the six decades of in-story time, and the consequences and ripple effects of everything that has gone before. This volume continues to push a running theme of very gender-ambiguous characters; there are now two characters who defy an easy binary, and Fitz is finally coming to terms with that in one of his oldest and dearest friends. I'm excited and slightly terrified to head into the 16th and final book of this series soon!

Vera Bushwack by Sig Burwash 

This book is simultaneously a fairly quiet story of a gender-nonconforming queer living with just a dog on a piece of rural property, working on building a cabin from scratch; and also an ambitious exploration of gendered power fantasies. At the start, Drew is learning how to operate a chainsaw to cut trees and clear property from a rural neighbor. Flashbacks and phone calls reveal how Drew got her dog, some of the shitty men she's had to deal with, a past lover who helped her cut a trail to the river, and a tomboy childhood. These scenes of rough realism are interrupted when Drew jumps on her dirt bike or revs the chainsaw and her fantasies spin out across the page, full of wild horses, monster trucks, naked cowboys, symbols of complete and total freedom. This book is deceptively complicated, full of bold creative choices that I really appreciated, even if they didn't all work for me. I have a feeling this story is going to stick in my head for a long time.

In the Form of a Question written and read by Amy Schneider 

A very engaging memoir from Jeopardy champion Amy Schneider, born and raised in Dayton, Ohio, who moved to Oakland, California as an adult and never left. Each chapter title is a question and cover topics thematically rather than chronologically. Schneider is very forthcoming and honest, writing about everything from her transition, her open marriage, her first sexual experiences, recreational drug use, polyamory, community theater, relationship with her parents and more. She has a humorous and yet compassionate voice, relating tales of her hatred of boy scouts, ADD, and failures to understand her own gender without belittling her younger self. Towards the ends of the book she writes of her experience of fame and what she got out of her time on Jeopardy saying that stepping into the public eye as a trans woman and being met mostly with support and love changed her life as much as the 1.5 million she won over a 40 game winning streak and various other tournaments. If you are a fan of Jeopardy, or just curious, this is a fun listen.

Ruth Asawa: An Artist Takes Shape by Sam Nakahira 

Ruth Asawa was born in Southern California to parents who had immigrated from Japan before WWII. After the bombing of Pearl Harbor, her whole family was displaced to the internment camps, loosing their farm, all of their farm animals, and nearly everything else they owned. Ruth finished high school inside a camp in Arkansas but was able to leave when she apply to and was accepted into college. She was faced with discrimination and racism, but eventually she was able to pursue her dream of becoming an artist at the experimental Black Mountain College in North Carolina. She studied under influential and well-known teachers who helped her find her own creative voice. She also met the love of her life there. The couple eventually relocated back to California, which had just legalized interracial marriage. Sam Nakahira captures Asawa's courage, determination, and incredible talent in tender line art with delicate grey scale washes. Asawa's best known work, her innovative wire sculptures, are gorgeously rendered. Asawa's insistence on treating every activity of her life, from gardening to parenting to drawing to sculpting, as creative, is a good reminder for me and every artist that living itself can be a creative practice.

People From My Neighborhood by Hiromi Kawakami translated by Ted Goossen 

A charmingly strange set of interconnected stories about a neighborhood in Japan full of unusual characters. The unnamed child narrator tells us of the middle aged woman who runs a karaoke bar out of her house, the old man with two shadows, the child who is passed from house to house by lottery because his parents cannot support him, a diplomat who might be an alien who no one ever seen, the arrival of a mountain of sand, a school built of candy, a girl with prophetic dreams, and more. The stories escalate in weirdness over the course of the book and also introduce more reoccurring characters. The short 4-6 pages chapters made it compulsively readable. I had a great time with this, despite the lack of an overarching plot.

The Contradictions by Sophie Yanow

At age twenty, after a bad breakup, the author signed up for a study abroad program in Paris. Lonely and soul searching in a foreign country, Yanow spots a girl riding a fixed gear bike. Yanow is a committed bicyclist and chases the girl down to learn she is also an exchange student, also recently broken up with, a committed anarchist and a shoplifter. Yanow and her new friend decide to take a poorly planned trip to Amsterdam, intending to hitchhike the whole way. About as many things go wrong as you might expect. In beautifully minimalist black and white panels, Yanow perfectly captures the naivete and first political awakenings of a young college student trying to seem cool and so taking risks and hiding passions in order to impress someone new. A quick read and a master class in understatement.

Little Weirds written and read by Jenny Slate 

There was a lot I enjoyed in this memoir, as well as some aspects that worked less well for me. I enjoyed Slate's writing style and the focus on small moments of beauty and reclaiming one's right to live fully in one's body, acknowledging all of its human needs for softness and love. I liked her whimsy and sense of humor and kindness. I do wish that some of the chapters had been slightly more grounded in some of the facts and loose timeline of Slate's life. I didn't know anything about her before starting the book and it took me until almost the last chapter to learn she was the middle of three sisters; a line earlier on had made me think she was maybe a twin. It became clear that she was writing through the process of emotionally recovering from a divorce, but I only learned from wikipedia that her ex-husband had also been a major creative collaboration partner. I wonder if she expected most people reading this book to already be familiar with her biography? Regardless, don't go into this book looking for facts; go instead for a nonlinear reclamation of some simple but hard-won emotional truths and skip any chapter that isn't speaking to you.

People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks, read by Edwina Wren

This book tells a fictional history of a real manuscript- the Sarajevo Haggadah, a beautifully illuminated Hebrew manuscript created in fifteenth-century Spain. The frame narrative follows an Australian manuscript conservation specialist, Hanna Heath, hired to re-bind the pages in the mid 1990s for a Bosnian museum that until extremely recently was in the middle of a war zone. Alternating chapters dip into contentious periods of Europe's history, usually moments of high tension between religious groups (WWII, Vienna at the turn of the century, the Spanish Inquisition in Venice, the banishment of Jews from Spain in 1492, Muslim/Christian conflicts in Seville in the 1480s) and trace how the Haggaadah managed to survive fire, flood, blood, war, and exile in the hands of many different people. This is an ambitious book that mostly achieved is goals; I got through the 14 hour audiobook very quickly. One unfortunate side effect of the narrative structure is that I as the reader didn't spend more than a few hours with any of the characters, and so didn't develop a particularly deep emotional connection with any of them, including Hanna, the lead. My rating is more of a 3.5 or 3.75 rounded up. But still, I appreciate Brooks eye for capturing just most exciting or tense moment from a historical era and will likely try a few more of her books in the future.

Punk Rock Karaoke by Bianca Xunise 

Three friends, recently graduated from high school, struggle to keep their punk band together through the demands of early adulthood. College applications, jobs, family obligations, and makeout partners are all knocking on the door, demanding to be let in. Will Ariel, Michele, and Gael be able to stay true to their creative spirits and to each other? I had a great time with this fast-paced, sweaty summer, friendship-focused book even though the majority of the punk music references went right over my head.

Parasol Against The Axe by Helen Oyeyemi 

Helen Oyeyemi continues to baffle and dazzle me. This one is set in and narrated by Prague, which is a tricky city full of its own complicated whims and desires. Into this self-aware city enter several women: Sofie and Polly, an engaged couple, celebrating their bachlorette weekend together with friends. Hero, a somewhat estranged friend of Sofie's, who come to Prague mostly to avoid a piece of registered mail which is chasing her down. And Thea, a woman willing to commit violence for the right price, on a hired revenge mission that happens to intersect with a dark episode of Sofie and Hero's past. Does that sound straight forward? It isn't. Oh yes and there's also a book, Paradoxical Undressings which tells a different story to every person who cracks open its covers. This book allows Oyeyemi to tell many nested and fantastical anecdotes from Prague's Communist past. As with most Oyeyemi books, there are a few threads I was left scratching my head over, but I had such a good time on the ride that I don't mind. I'll just have to read it again and see if I catch them (assuming it's the same book when I open it a second time!) 

The Sacrificers Vol 1 by Rick Remender, Max Fiumara and Dave McCaig 

The art is absolutely stunning, but the story is a bit too cruel and dark for me to really enjoy. This book takes the concept of the child sacrifice of Omelas and expands it out into a whole fantasy world, in which gods maintain their power through the consumption of innocents. The stunning color panel carried me though the first volume but I'm unlikely to pick up a second book.

Brides of High Hill by Nghi Vo read by Cindy Kay

Another satisfying installment in the Singing Hills Cycle! In this one, Cleric Chih accompanies a young woman and her family to the remote estate of her prospective husband. But all is not as it seems. The potential husband looks at least twice as old as the young woman, and he has a son shut up in a pagoda and kept drugged in his gardens. Everyone on the estate is in some kind of danger, but the secrets are thicker and deeper than even the Cleric can guess.

[ofallingstar]

List of books I read in 2023

Charlotte's Web by E.B. White

Slouching Towards Bethlehem by Joan Didion

The Maidens by Alex Michaelides

The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab

The Broken Girls by Simone St. James

Women Talking by Miriam Toews

L'homme semence by Violette Ailhaud

Into the Darkest Corner by Elizabeth Haynes

A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway

Dark Places by Gillian Flynn

On Magic & The Occult by W.B. Yeats

Faithful Place by Tana French

The Secret Scripture by Sebastian Barry

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

Opened Ground: Selected Poems 1966-1996 by Seamus Heaney

The Love Object by Edna O'Brien

Don Quijote de la Mancha by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra

Night by Elie Wiesel

In Between the Sheets by Ian McEwan

The Lost Days by Rob Reger & Jessica Gruner

Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir

As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner

Parallax by Sinéad Morrissey

The Woman in the Strongbox by Maureen O'Hagan

Diaries, 1910-1923 by Franz Kafka

The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah

Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery

We Were the Mulvaneys by Joyce Carol Oates

The Family Upstairs by Lisa Jewell

Walking to Martha's Vineyard by Franz Wright

A Tale for the Time Being Ruth Ozeki

Mouthful of Forevers by Clementine von Radics

Wasteland by Francesca Lia Block

The Fact of a Body: A Murder and a Memoir by Alexandria Marzano-Lesnevich

Find Me by André Aciman

The Awakening by Kate Chopin

The Grace Year by Kim Ligget

The Five: The Untold Lives of the Women Killed by Jack the Ripper by Hallie Rubenhold

A Good Girl's Guide to Murder by Holly Jackson

And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie

A Stolen Life by Jaycee Dugard

Coraline by Neil Gaiman

The Castle of Otranto by Horace Walpole

Mr. Mercedes by Stephen King

My Best Friend's Exorcism by Grady Hendrix

Psycho by Robert Bloch

Classic Tales Of Vampires And Shapeshifters by Tig Thomas

Love Devours: Tales of Monstrous Adoration by Sarah Diemer

Through the Woods by Emily Carroll

Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury

Putney by Sofka Zinovieff

The Woman in Me by Britney Spears

Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West by Gregory Maguire

Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare

The Maid by Nita Prose

A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett

The Deep by Rivers Solomon

You can follow me or add me as a friend on Goodreads.

[theinquisitxor]

February 2024 Reading Wrap Up

I read 8 books in February, and overall had a great reading month. I had three five-star books, which is a lot for me in one month. I read 2 audiobooks and 6 physical books. I read 5 fantasy, 2 nonfiction, and 1 historical/literary fiction.

1.The Throne of the Five Winds (Hostage of Empire 1) by SC Emmet 5/5 stars. This was my Random TBR pick from January, which I finished up in Feb. This book had been on my tbr since 2019, and it was a fantastic courtly political fantasy. This is set in an ancient China inspired setting, with several different countries and cultures. The story follows two young women (one, a princess in an arranged marriage) as they travel to a neighboring empire to become integral in the court life there. I was surprised by how much I loved this book, and it's become a new favorite.

2.House of Flame and Shadow (Crescent City 3) by SJM, 4/5 stars. The Crescent City books have been favorites for several years now, and I was very interested to see how this book (and the series) would develop as a crossover. I enjoyed this quite a lot, and it is very stereotypical SJM writing and plot. I love any sort of crossovers, portals, and traveling between worlds, so this book was a treat to me. However,  it felt like things came together too quickly and easily at the end, and it rushed towards a conclusion, and I wasn't as impressed with this book as much as I wanted to be.

3.The Bookseller of Florence: The Story of the Manuscripts that Illuminated the Renaissance by Ross King. I read this on audio and this was a huge deep dive into the world of the bookmarkets and booksellers in Florence. If you want a big dose of book history, this one is it. I didn't really enjoy the audiobook narrator unfortunately.

4.Blade Breaker (Realm Breaker 2) by Victoria Aveyeard 3/5 stars. I enjoyed this a little bit more than book 1, and this series has captured my attention so I want to see how it ends. I think I would be enjoying these books more if I were 16 or 17, but reading these in my mid-twenties is maybe not the target age range for this series. I enjoy the worldbuilding and characters the most.

5. A God In Every Stone by Kamila Shamsie 3/5 stars. This was every type of historical fiction that I enjoy: Early 20th cen. setting, Archeologists searching for an ancient artifact, WW1 book, Ancient and classical texts, Non-Western setting and examination of British Empire and colonialism. This was my Random TBR pick for the month of Feb, and this book has been on my tbr since 2020. I was glad to read it, and I tend to enjoy these types of novels. This feels like half literary fiction, half historical fiction.

6. The Warm Hands of Ghosts by Katherine Arden, 5/5 stars. This was as hauntingly horrific and beautiful as I hoped it would be. I had been waiting as patiently as I could for a new Katherine Arden adult novel, and this was well worth the wait. This book encapsulated WWI and the horrors well, with good characters, and a speculative/fantasy twist that I enjoyed.

7. What Feasts at Night (Sworn Soldier 2) by T Kingfisher, 4/5 stars. This is a followup horror novella to What Moves the Dead. This had more of a woodsy, folkloric horror than book 1. I think it was a little stronger than the first novella, since it wasn’t a retelling. I look forward to whatever else T Kingfisher writes, and I would enjoy more of these novellas!

8. Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland by Patrick Radden Keefe, 5/5 stars. This was my second audiobook for the month, and I was very impressed by this. I only knew a summery-level about The Troubles, but this was a great introduction for me.

That's it for February! I started (but did not finish) Us Against You by Frederick Backman, so I will finish that up in March.

My March TBR

Us Against You by Frederick Backman (Beartown 2)

The Poison Prince (Hostage of Empire 2) by SC Emmet

The Prisoner's Throne by Holly Black (releases March 5th)

Random TBR pick: An Alchemy of Masques and Mirrors by Curtis Craddock

Knowing What We Know by Simon Winchester

Song of the Huntress by Lucy Holland (Releases March 21st)

The Hedgewitch of Foxhall by Ana Bright (Releases March 24th)

North Woods by Daniel Mason

The Book of Doors by Gareth Brown

I'm definitely not going to get to all of these, but this is the list I'm going to be reading from!

[finalgirljpg]

tagged by @morgleaf! thank you morgan this was v v fun <3

last song you heard? 16 carriages by beyonce your favorite color? lavender or really any color purple what show/series did u watch last? house md and true detective spicy, sweet, or savory? sweet relationship status? recently single last thing u googled? velvet yarn current obsession? crochet, knitting, and fiber arts last book you read? rereading say nothing: a true story of murder and memory in northern ireland by patrick radden keefe something you’re looking forward to? the huge snowstorm that's supposed to happen tomorrow and a ski trip in vermont with my cousins for presidents weekend

tagging: @kadygrants, @parisakamali, @acotars, @tuff-ponyboy, @patswayze, and anyone else who wants to do it

[dancing-mylife-away]

Q & A

rules: answer and tag people you want to get to know better and/or catch up with

i was tagged by the lovely @leothil :)

last song: lonely demo by geographer

favourite colour: green!

currently reading: say nothing: a true story of murder and memory in northern ireland by patrick radden keefe

currently watching: i guess rewatching dance moms and leverage, but that's kind of been an episode here and there when i feel like it. i finished watching the way home back in june and have been meaning to watch will trent since i haven't seen season 1 in its entirety/in the right order, but i keep getting distracted by sports instead lol (and same with fbi international)

last movie: a greek recipe for romance (hallmark movie)

sweet, spicy or savoury: savory

relationship status: single ✌️

current obsessions: hm. nothing really at the moment. maybe sara and jeffrey from the grant county series. 911 and buddie are always there but the obsession level is different during the summer hiatus and idk i'm not super hype for the new season like i usually am *shrug*

tea or coffee: coffee 🫶

last thing i googled: altra escalante running shoes lol

tagging: @cathedralsofdecay @tarazizari @mayasdeluca @crosbytoews :)

[doumekiss]

2024 Book Recs - 7-10/?

7. The Bluest Eye (Toni Morrison)

This book tells the story of Pecola, a black girl living in a small town in the usa during the forties who wishes to have blue eyes, it’s also about the people around her, the kids who study with her, her neighbors, her parents and other people who cross her path. And it’s one of the most depressing books I’ve read in my life, beautifully written but by god it’s brutal for your feelings. It’s a book that I begin reading believing I knew what it was going to be about and I was wrong, though it deals with the damages that racial beauty standards can have what really struck me is the vulnerability of children, and how cruelty towards them can be normalized or trivialized. The protagonist's desire for blue eyes in the end is less about being considered beautiful, and more about wanting to be cared for, loved and allowed to be a kid. 

Recommended for: people who want to feel touched by a story and its characters even if it brings them sadness. But trigger warning this book deals with some really heavy themes, besides racism there is csa and rape so be careful. 

8. Project Hail Mary (Andy Weir)

This book tells the story of a man who wakes up alone in a spaceship without any memory of how he got there and who he is. And it’s so fun and hopeful, it really was just what I needed after finishing reading The Bluest Eye. It’s hard sci-fi but still manages to have this sense of wonder that attracts me and so many others to speculative fiction. It reminded me a lot of the extremely underrated movie Moon at first, but then it went in directions I really wasn’t expecting, and the end was just so different from what I predicted, but it felt so right for the protagonist and the story.

I won’t say much because I do think it’s one of those books where it’s worth going in knowing as little about it as possible and figuring out what happens together with the protagonist. 

Recommended for : sci-fi nerds and people interested in narratives about unconventional friendships 

9. Say Nothing : A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland (Patrick Radden Keefe) 

This is a nonfiction book is about The Troubles in northern Ireland during the last century, choosing to tell the story by focusing not so much on the big picture historically but by focusing on different people on the sides of the conflict, with two main narratives, the first focusing on Jean McCoville a woman kidnapped and murdered by the IRA for suspicions of being an informer to the british, and the second one about Dolours and Marian Price two sisters who became volunteers to the IRA, and eventually how those two narratives are connected. I had very high expectations for this book due to Empire of Pain by the same author, and they were thoroughly met, which is quite impressive considering this is a book with way less clear villains and heroes. 

Recommended for: true crime fans and people interested in irish and XX century history

10. Redemption in Indigo (Karen Lord) 

This book is about Paama, a woman who decides to leave her foolish husband, and ends up attracting the attention of the djombi who gift her the Chaos Stick, which allows her to manipulate the subtle forces of the world. This book is inspired by a lot of african folklore with part of the plot being inspired by a fable from senegal, it was quite humorous at some points and in others just enchanting, it reminded me a lot of American Gods and Anansi Boys (Anansi actually makes some appearances, what pleased me a lot because I always love stories about trickster gods meddling with the lives of mortals). And the ending surprised me in a positive way. It’s the first book by this author I’ve ever read and I already put a lot more of her novels on my to read list.

Recommended for: fantasy fans, people interested in african folklore, people who like the writing of Neil Gaiman and Octavia Butler. 

[nancydrewwouldnever]

Book recommendations?! Say no more.

She Has Her Mother's Laugh: The Powers, Perversions, and Potential of Heredity - Carl Zimmer

I Contain Multitudes: The Microbes Within Us and a Grander View of Life - Ed Yong

The Unfit Heiress: The Tragic Life and Scandalous Sterilization of Ann Cooper Hewitt - Audrey Clare Farley

Zero Fail: The Rise and Fall of the Secret Service - Carol D. Leonnig

Disability Visibility: First-Person Stories from the Twenty-First Century

How the Word Is Passed: A Reckoning with the History of Slavery Across America - Clint Smith

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

Traveling Black: A Story of Race and Resistance - Mia Bay

On Violence - Hannah Arendt

There are just a few of the books I’ve read recently😊

LOL... remember that time Chris posted a sceenshot from Hannah Arendt?

[lesbianmariuspontmercy]

1 and 24 for the book ask!! :D

Thank you! I track these things obsessively. I've read 28 full length books! And I've DNF'd 12 books.

thanks for asking!

Here's a list of both:

Read (bold = favorite)

Patricia Wants to Cuddle - Samantha Allen

Negative Space - BR Yeager

The House in Abigail Lane - Kealan Patrick Burke

Crying in H Mart - Michelle Zauner

Different Seasons - Stephen King

The Fall of the House of Usher - Edgar Allan Poe

Sorrowland - Rivers Solomon

Found: An Anthology of Found Footage

Scanlines - Todd Keisling

This is Where We Talk Things Out - Caitlin Marceau

The World Cannot Give - Tara Isabella Burton

Sharp Objects - Gillian Flynn

Fluids - May Leitz

The Elementals - Michael McDowell

Educated - Tara Westover

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

Little Fires Everywhere - Celeste Ng

Psychic Teenage Bloodbath - Carl John Lee

Good Omens - Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman (reread)

Mister Magic - Kiersten White

The Last Days of Jack Sparks - Jason Arnopp

The Bayou - Arden Powell

The Iliad - Homer

Helpmeet - Naben Ruthnum

The Weight of Blood - Tiffany D. Jackson

A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier - Ishmael Beah

Suffer the Children - Craig DiLouie

Intercepts - TJ Payne

and i'm hoping to finish at least 5 more books, but we shall see! (Les Mis, The Once Yellow House, The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, Penance, and Pet Sematary)

as for DNFs;

Ghost Wall - Sarah Moss: Too tedious even for me

Bad Feminist by Roxane Gay: I feel there's more up to date feminist literature to read

Smoke Gets in Your Eyes - Catherine Lacey: as a Mexican, the way she talked about death and corpses left a bad taste in my mouth.

Kentukis - Samanta Schwelbin (Little Eyes in the translation): Gave up on this author, the stories went nowhere at all.

Heaven - Mieko Kawakami: I felt this book was going to leave me with nothing

Sleeping Giants - Sylvain Neuvel: This is just the set up for something very NGE and I didn't wanna commit to a saga

Anybody Home? by Michael J Seidlinger: Tries too hard

Ugly Girls - Lindsay Hunter: Wouldn't give me what i was craving atm

The Children of Red Peak - Craig DiLouie: Too infodumpy

Brutes - Dizz Tate: Wasn't providing what I needed

A Certain Hunger by Chelsea G. Summers: cringe

Stolen Tongues - Felix Blackwell: A creepypasta turned book that extends too much, weird treatment of Native American characters.

[maryxoliver]

books i read in 2023: say nothing: a true story of murder and memory in northern ireland by patrick radden keefe

[huronsuperior]

The men scrambled for cover and fired back. Then, out of nowhere, two Saracen armored vehicles materialized, racing down the road. They stopped abruptly, and suddenly the men were gone. Hughes stood there, panting, processing what he had just witnessed. The gunmen had been dressed like civilians. But they had escaped in a British Army vehicle. They weren't civilians--they were British Army. That was when Hughes looked down and realized he was bleeding.

Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland has been informative and harrowing.

Keefe introduces individuals and places in a way that asks you to be patient, but he keeps the story moving all the same, and immerses you in the lives and circumstances of various people.

I've found myself upset and moved by situations that I'm academically somewhat familiar with, but have not until now experienced in such a personal way as is conveyed in Say Nothing.

[clementinecoastline]

tag someone you want to get to know better

tagged by @lgbtlunaverse

i used italics for the actual titles to help see them better!!

favorite color: orange!

last song: la rebelión by joe arroyo

last movie: wolfwalkers i think. i also watched the new netflix monkey king animated movie and i'll actually go to bat for that.

currently watching: the new sousou no frieren anime!!! i'm watching each episode as it comes out... it's so wonderful. also rewatching inuyasha.

currently reading: cuba: an american history by ada ferrer. the sousou no frieren manga. say nothing: a true story of murder and memory in northern ireland by patrick radden keefe.

currently working on: two history research papers (women in revolutionary cuba + irish revolutionary period) and an excess of fanfiction ideas LMAOOOOOO. the fic that's closest to being finished right now is my sousou no frieren haikaveh au which i am obsessed with. other ideas i'm working on are my haikaveh reincarnation au, genshin daemon au, and my mdzs pacific rim au which PLEASE ask me about that.

current obsession: genshin impact (especially haikaveh), sousou no frieren, and mdzs. haikyuu is not at the forefront but it is always present. mostly the first two. also very excited to discuss cuban history if anyone wants to. i am still learning so much about it.

tagging: anyone who wants to join in!!! i don't really have any specific mutuals in mind right now.

if you're not a fic writer or artist just write about anything you'd like in the currently working on section!!

[danareadsbooks]

Some of my favorite reads this year include:

Almost There by Farrah Rochon

Atlas of the Heart by Brene Brown

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

The Widow of Rose House by Diana Biller

The Brightest Star in Paris by Diana Biller

Loveless by Alice Oseman

Nanette by Hannah Gadsby

Bittersweet: How Sorrow and Longing Make Us Whole by Susan Cain

Kaikeyi by Vaishnavi Patel

The Hacienda by Isabel Cañas

Gender Queer by Maia Kobabe

Somebody’s Daughter by Ashley C. Ford

Know My Name by Chanel Miller

Horse by Geraldine Brooks

Haven by Emma Donoghue

The Echo Wife by Sarah Gailey

The Witch and the Tsar by Olesya Salnikova Gilmore

I reread all of Saga and the new volume. By Brian K Vaughan and Illustrated by Fiona Staples

Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin

Ducks: Two Years in the Oil Sand by Kate Beaton

The Marriage Portrait by Maggie O’Farrell

[maulthots]

20 15 and 7

7. is there a series/book that got you into reading?

the bunnicula books, one of which is about a vampire rabbit and another that, i believe, is constructed around a citizen kane reference, which is a wild choice when your audience is 8 years old. the entire bailey school kids series, the most memorable of which was aliens don't wear braces about an art teacher who sucks the color out of objects and later people. sideways stories from wayside school, which was short stories about, among other things, a teacher who turned her naughty students into apples before she herself was turned into an apple and then eaten by the gym teacher.

15. recommend and review a book

man idk what books you like. say nothing: a true story of murder and memory in northern ireland by patrick radden keefe for nonfiction, which was my fave book of the year. everything i knew about the troubles, i learned from derry girls, so this one was interesting. the lover's dictionary by david levithan and cain by josé saramago for fun and interesting stylistic choices (very structured for the former, and little to no punctuation for the latter). deerskin by robin mckinley simply because i feel like i have to recommend it to everyone -- a dark fairytale that i picked up blind in the tenth grade and never got over and which inexplicably i referenced a lot when talking to liz about broken road, for insane reasons.

18. do you like historical books? which time period?

i never seek out historical books but i'll read anything. generally the farther back it goes, the less interested i am.

20. what are things you look for in a book?

preferably, and simply, that i've seen the title in more than one place by more than one person. other than that....wow genuinely who knows.

[katieroo28]

Top 10 Books I Read in 2022 (In Alphabetical Order)

1. Circe by Madeline Miller

2. The Echo Wife by Sarah Gailey

3. Her Body & Other Parties by Carmen Maria Machado

4. Hide by Kiersten White

5. House of Hollow by Krystal Sutherland

6. I’m Glad My Mom Died by Jennette McCurdy

7. The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab

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

9. The Secret History by Donna Tartt

10. Vengeful by V.E. Schwab

[news4dzhozhar]

‘Rogues: True Stories of Grifters, Killers, Rebels and Crooks’ by Patrick Radden Keefe

Patrick Radden Keefe tells us in the preface to in his new book, Rogues: True Stories of Grifters, Killers, Rebels and Crooks, that the 12 long-form essays “reflect some of my abiding preoccupations: crime and corruption, secrets and lies, the permeable membrane separating licit and illicit worlds, the bonds of family, the power of denial.” In this, of course, the stories are similar to the concerns in his previous two books: Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland and Empire of Pain: The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty. It’s a muddied world he covers, where just about everyone is tainted, though even the most sinister rogues have some mediating human qualities.

Among the more menacing group of transgressors Keefe writes about is Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, whose pre-terrorist college life displayed “a painfully American banality: cinder-block dorm rooms, big-screen TVs, mammoth boxes of Cheez-Its.” Wim Holleeder, the Dutch gangster who allegedly has a hit out for his own sister, comes across as wily and even quirky during his trial — “shifting in his chair, shaking his head, taking his eyeglasses off and twirling them like a propeller” — though Keefe makes no bones about the man’s overall brutality; and drug kingpin Joaquín Guzmán Loera, “El Chapo” — at one point one of the most feared criminals in the world — “distinguished himself as a trafficker who brought an unusual sense of imagination and play to the trade.”

Then there’s Amy Bishop, a neurobiologist denied tenure at the University of Alabama, Huntsville, who, during the last department meeting of the semester, blocked the conference room door and shot six of her colleagues, killing three. Bishop grew up in a Boston suburb where she had shot and killed her brother, and Keefe thoroughly investigates this act, and its ultimate lack of consequence (the killing was ruled accidental), as a possible precursor to the later crime. Discussing whether or not the murder was intentional, Keefe writes, “When violence suddenly ruptures the course of our lives, we tend to tell ourselves stories in order to make it explicable. Confronted with scrambled pieces of evidence, we arrange them into a narrative.” Keefe concludes that “neither story” about the killing “was especially convincing,” and this willingness to live with ambiguity and irresolution is a hallmark of his journalism.

While the profiles of people who might rightly be considered villains is riveting, I found myself drawn more to the stories about genteel rogues. There is German wine forger Hardy Rodenstock, whose hustle was to convince wealthy people that the bottles he was selling were originally from the cellar of Thomas Jefferson. When uber-conservative and wine connoisseur Bill Koch, brother of Charles and David, goes mercilessly after Rodenstock, it’s hard not to side with the “bad guy” of the story. Similarly, HSBC computer technician Hervé Falciani may have broken the law when he disclosed which wealthy bank customers were laundering money and evading taxes, but our sympathies are generally with the whistleblower, whatever his motives might have been.

The book ends with a chapter on Anthony Bourdain, who is perhaps less of a rogue than the other scoundrels in the book. Though he periodically raises a cynical eyebrow over Bourdain’s antics, Keefe is clearly drawn to the celebrity chef’s star power, this man with the magnetism of “an aging rocker,” who “transformed himself into a well-heeled nomad who wanders the planet meeting fascinating people and eating delicious food,” fully enjoying his “fantasy profession.” The story was published in The New Yorker (where all these pieces first appeared) before Bourdain’s suicide, and it ends on an upbeat note, which is undercut by the tragedy that will follow. It’s an irony one can imagine that Keefe, whose profiles display a boundless interest in other people, feels deeply.