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wholelotofweird · 2 years ago

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Meowdy, I hope you're ready to take a peek at all of the books I've read the last 3 months!

By read, I do also mean listened to. I'm a huge fan of audiobooks, because my brain is bad.

Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone - Benjamin Stevenson

I love a good mystery book, and this is a good mystery book. The narrator has a strong voice and is up-front about their unreliable nature. This book does a great job of making sure you are on the narrator's side, it never feels like they are purposefully keeping readers in the dark in order to pull a gotcha.

Pacing and suspense are SO well balanced to the point where I devoured this book in a day.

Paladin's Grace - T. Kingfisher

I was so prepared for this book to lean way more heavily into a fantasy world where I'd have to learn more terms and how social systems work, and just 1000 other things that can put me off of fantasy books. It's part of the reason I put it off for so long after getting it recommended to me (sorry, Ben.)

THIS BOOK, THOUGH, is not that at all. We don't have to learn new names for "church" or "palm tree". The author manages to thread the line between assuming that readers know the world already, and not creating a bunch of buckwild new words. The handholding though the worldbuilding is so light that you almost don't even feel it.

The setting manages to feel modern and fantastic all at once, which is just... The perfect food for me. The pantheon exists, but it isn't the focus.

This is a romance novel but not a bodice ripper, or overly erotic. I feel the depths of the emotions between the two main characters, which is what I really want.

My one gripe is that the final resolution feels very deus ex. Now, if I was going to pull out my fancy degree and analyze this, I could make an argument that the ending is supposed to feel that, for [spoilers]. But... I'm not sure how true that is. Maybe I'll have to re-read the book and keep that argument in mind.

Even with the ending, this book is lovely.

The Cybernetic Tea Shop - Meredith Katz

This book is short and sweet and a lovely look at an ace relationship.

I haven't read a book sub 200 pages in about a billion years, so many modern books are 600+ pages. Some of them! So good! Others!! Painfully long! This book manages to build an amazing world, atmosphere, multiple characters, and a believable romantic relationship all in the space of a few hundred pages.

Not just that, but the story happens to be about grief, and life, and what it is a person really wants. There are a handful of books I've read in my life that I connect with on such a deep level that I feel seen and changed, Convince Store Woman is one, and this is one.

Cults - Max Cutler

Taking a hard swerve into some non-fiction. I'll be honest, I wasn't sure what I was getting into with this one. I'm not HUGE into true crime (anymore, 14 year old me S U P E R was), so I was a little concerned that I was signing up for some grim, overly detailed, look into the crimes.

What I got instead was a thoughtful look at the psychology behind cult leaders. Yeah, there are a few sections that are pretty grim, but the book doesn't revel in them, if that makes sense. There is never a point where I feel like I am supposed to be ENJOYING the crimes being detailed.

The focus on not just the leaders lives pre-cult, but the lives of the cult members does a ton of work to unmythologize (.... new word alert) some of these leaders.

House of Salt and Sorrows - Erin A. Craig

So... I don't know. I didn't dislike this book, but I'm not sure I'm a fan. I will read the second one when I have access to it, but I don't know that I'd read this one again.

Here is a true fact about me - I don't read summaries of books or horror movies. This, as you may imagine, leads me to having to some WILD times with media.

Anyway, the point is: I was expecting a mystery period piece. What I got was a fantasy mystery period piece. It was fun, it was a little overly complicated. At the end of the day, I was definitely not the target audience for this.

I'm Glad My Mom Died - Janette McCurdy

Jesus. Christ.

When i-Carly was popular I was juuuuuust old enough to say I hated it, while watching it with my younger sisters pretty frequently. I didn't make sure to watch any of the big event episodes. I didn't see every episode, but the show was a constant in my life.

To get such a raw look at someone's life who was molded to be a 'peer' was WACK. Jennette doesn't sugar coat anything. Her experiences are raw and honest and it is probably the only way these experiences could be expressed.

Paladin's Strength - T. Kingfisher

You may be asking "why didn't you put this up next to the first book?"

Great question.

I'm putting this list in order that I read them, so like. Ease off.

I equal parts liked this book just as much, and had trouble getting through it. I am once again in love with the world and with the characters. During some of the middle of the book it felt like the book was 600 pages just to be 600 pages, and not because things needed to be said.

When I was in college I was accused of writing too many "stage directions" in my literature. I blame my years of RPing on Gaia Online and fan-fic writing on that. There is a definite style that comes from those writing exercises, a style where you want all of the readers to know everything from point A to point B. The thing is, not all of that is needed. I don't need 200 pages of sexual tension and flirting to believe in the relationship of two people. It's the "show don't tell" rule taken to the extreme.

There are some times when it's okay to tell and not show.

I like this book, I wish it was shorter, I will be reading the next one in the series because, damn it, this series is fun.

The Curse of Chalion - Lois McMaster Bujold

I don't tend to read fantasy books Like This anymore. When I was younger this type of book was my bread and butter. I've found that a lot of them (to me, at my advanced age) are tedious. And I'm tired.

This book! Manages not to be tedious and absolutely cradled me in the arms of fantasy I loved when I was younger. The book isn't, plot wise, comforting and yet I felt comforted reading it. I understand that the sentiment makes little sense. I'll say, though, if you were like me and were/are a big fan of Tamora Pierce's work - I cannot recommend this book enough.

Mrs. Sherlock Holmes - Brad Ricca

What is more cool than a woman lawyer, investigator, and social rights advocate in the 1900s? Basically nothing. This is another non-fiction book that truly brought to life the folks it detailed. I am OBSESSED with this woman.

I had never heard of Grace Humiston, which seems like an absolute shame, not just because she was cool as all hell, but because she spent so much time and effort protecting the underserved classes of 1900s New York. She was a lawyer who often worked for free to represent folks who could either not speak or write in English and were being taken advantage of.

She became an investigator, basically, because she knew the police were not putting effort into it.

The Salt Grows Heavy - Cassandra Khaw

This was another one that I didn't read the summary for before jumping in. I knew it was a queer book and I knew there was a mermaid, I didn't need any other convincing.

Here we have another sub 200 page book that tells an amazing love story. A story of personhood and growth and revenge.

It is not an easy read either in content or syntax. I haven't really put any trigger warnings with any of the other books, maybe that's a system I'll implement if anyone is interested. But this one: Body Horror, and Gore. If you have a weak stomach I would, sadly, not recommend this to you.

That said, this book is one of the more poetic ones I've read in a long time. Every word feels purposeful in a way that I don't run into often. Keeping the book short works perfectly for that style. If it were any longer I could easily find myself getting lost in the writing.

Legends & Lattes - Travis Baldree

This book has been on my TBR for... A While. It took my friend starting it and sending rave reviews for me to pick it up.

Here's another fun fact about me - My brain is broken. I have a hard time engaging with media that I KNOW I will enjoy, simply because. Because why? I don't know. To be contrary? Because I don't want to be disappointed? Because I'm scared I'll like it too much?

Who knows, don't recommend shows or movies to me and expect me to get back to you in a timely manner. You have to wait 3-5 years.

So, knowing that, I am glad I forced myself to pick this up. This is the coffee shop AU that we all love. The creation of this AU was treated with such love and care, it's clear the author knows what's up. All I want is a big strong character to fall in love with a smaller, softer, character and also run a little shop.

This book delivers on that and more. I cannot WAIT for the next book.

Leech - Hiron Ennes

I'm going to start with the easy stuff - This is a wonderfully dark book. I'm not usually a gothic horror reader, but wow. This book is about horror, identity, reclaiming the self. My library had it miss-tagged as romance which??? It is SUPER not.

The harder part is putting into words how I feel about this book. I like this book, it is complex and poetic. There were times where I felt like I was about to crawl out of my skin, in a good way. Emotions are so viscerally described that I could feel them in my gut.

The history of the world feels so deep, and the author does an amazing job at making me feel like that there are things going on outside the view of the character. That is an amazing skill to pull on, making the world around the character feel truly alive.

I told my friends when I finished it that sometimes "u read a book and the book read u."

I haven't put on my literature analysis hat on in nearly a decade. I would LOVE to spend more time to sit with this book and peel back the layers and figure out all of the ways this book makes me feel seen as a queer person. I don't have the words for that right now. Just know that I felt it.

Ghost Eaters - Clay McLeod Chapman

I don't know how I feel about this book. I think, overall, I like it. I think the plot is interesting, but the book isn't really about the plot, it's about the character. It's about grief and relationships and healing.

I felt like the first 200 pages were a real struggle for me. Unlike some of the other books I've read on this list, I did read a blurb about this one. I wonder if that was why the first 3rd of this book was a struggle. I was waiting the hook to find me. Instead, I had pages and pages of character exploration. I don't hate character exploration! But it wasn't what I was expecting.

The end... Left me feeling sad, and a little hopeless. Which, I think is the point. I think is why I don't read a ton of horror books. I love horror movies, I don't mind if the endings of those are bleak and hopeless. I think the difference is time spent. Reading a book takes so much more time and dedication and like... I want to be happy, is the thing.

I like this book, I think it's a wonderfully written look at addiction and grief and the ways those can eat a person alive.

Paladin's Hope - T. Kingfisher

I devoured this book in 5 hours. I... I opened it and did not put it down. I think this one may be my favorite of the three. I think the author managed to strike the exact right balance of tension, romance, and action.

Unlike Paladin's Strength, I never felt that there were these big empty spaces -- There was momentum.

I want to once again say that I LOVE that the characters are into their 30s. As a person also into their 30s it's just nice to see folks who feel real. Maybe I've been reading the wrong books for years, I simply feel a deep connection for characters similar in age who are just so... Normal (ignoring that some of them are paladin's of a dead god... you know what I mean).

#book review #reading list #Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone #Paladin's Grace #Paladin's Strength #t. kingfisher #saint of steel #The Cybernetic Tea Shop #House of Salt and Sorrows #I'm Glad My Mom Died #jenette mccurdy #The Curse of Chalion #The Salt Grows Heavy #Leech #hiron ennes #Ghost Eaters #Paladin's Hope

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creature-reads · 1 year ago

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Currently Reading ~~~ updated: 1/17/24

How to Survive by John Hudson

Africa Risen (anthology) edited by Sheree Renée Thomas, Oghenechovwe Donald Ekpeki, and Zelda Knight

Out Lady of Mysterious Aliments By T.L. Huchu

The Last Tale of the Flower Bride by Roshani Chokshi

The Water Outlaws by S.L. Huang

Ruin of Kings by Jenn Lyons

The Cybernetic Tea Shop by Meredith Katz

Should I stop reading so many books at ounce?

#reading update #creature reads

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ladytauria · 1 year ago

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2, 3, 5, 6 (and will you read it in the upcoming year), 10 ,14, 18, 20, 24 y 25!

thank you for asking!!! i had to grab books from last year bc this year was a bad reading year for me, but the questions were/are fun!

2. Did you reread anything? What?

i reread the last unicorn yesterday!!! bc i was feeling nostalgic. i made. a BUNCH more highlights in my kindle. (altho i read my physical copy lol.) there's just... so much good stuff in there, aah.

(oh ik u sent me an ask about this, idk if you saw it--ik tumblr is goofy--but its here! also, minor clarification: it doesn't have a *sequel* but there's a pair of novellas, released as one book, that are set in the same world!)

3. What were your top five books of the year?

i. didn't read very much this year at all. (er, published books! i did read a ton of fanfic). the beginning of this year was exTREMELY stressful, and in the latter half, all the books i started just. failed to grab me :/

that said!! i met my reading goal last year, so i will just include those!!

One of the books I did read this year was The Cybernetic Tea Shop by Meredith Katz, a v cute novella about a mechanic & an android. It's set a few centuries in the future, where robotics have advanced significantly. Intelligent AI were banned a long time ago, but those few whose bodies have not eroded / code hasn't corrupted are allowed to remain. The android in the fic runs a Tea Shop, which she inherited from her long-deceased lover <3 (The book is also sappic! I would love to read more of Katz's work.

Also, like I said, I reread The Last Unicorn, which I think would be on a top 5 in general for me, if I were ever to attempt to narrow that down xD. The prose in this book is beautiful; there are so many lovely lines. And the themes in the book--the play of mortality vs immortality, the structure of fairy tales & how the ppl in this setting are v much bound by them--are present from the very beginning, which was a fun thing to pick up on during my reread xD

All Systems Red by Martha Wells! I read a lot of sci-fi last year for some reason? Anyway, I adored this. Murderbot is a fascinating pov character & I love the choices Wells makes with it. My only gripe is that I could not immediately go out and buy the rest of the series.

Elatsoe by Darcie Little Badger!!! this was. so cute. It's YA, I think? Yes, okay, Storygraph confirms this. The writing is lovely, and I adore the main character and the story! One thing you see a lot of--or, actually, I guess I should say I see a lot of--in YA is like. The rebellion against authority figures? Parents are often antagonists, and I understand why this is, but it was very refreshing that in this book Elatsoe's parental/adult figures were so present & involved & like. There was this mutual respect between them that I adored. Also, she can talk to ghosts? And solves her cousin's murder by doing so! And she has a ghost dog. What's not to love?? (Oh, and she's ace, which I think I remember her mentioning explicitly! Also, the way Native culture is threaded through the book is just. Lovely.)

Am. Am I already at 5. How did. How did I get to 5 already 🥺 *kicks foot* Okay. I. Would not be me. If I didn't mention Nona the Ninth. The only reason I didn't rec the Locked Tomb series to you is bc you mentioned not wanting sci-fi, and while there are a lot of fantasy elements, it is. Very sci-fi. Anyway. I admit that I was not enthused about going into this book. Nona was originally going to be a novella, released between Harrow & Alecto, and when I heard it was getting full novel status I was. Kind of not happy. But oh my god. It was so good. The first half, or maybe even 2/3rds, of the book is very slice-of-life, with Nona going to school & planning her birthday party (despite being only 6mo old). You can tell there is more Plot happening, but Nona is v much oblivious and also being kept out of it. And then the last half/3rd is Plot-Plot-Plot. And my god. That ENDING. Alecto can't get here soon enough, I'm. I need it. I need it. OH. Okay, no, I was right when I said half bc this book is the first split POV, in that every other chapter / every couple chapters is narrated by Jod. (The God Emperor, John Gaius) while he tells his story. It was fascinating, I thought I would hate those chapters, but he is. Such a compelling antagonist, omg. Also there were more memes uwu. First book I ever annotated along with as I was reading, too!! I---

Stopping. Cutting myself off. Sorry; these books make me gush.

5. What genre did you read the most of?

Normally the answer to this is fantasy, but! I think Sci-Fi won out <3

6. Was there anything you meant to read, but never got to?

Yes! Both last year and this year I meant to read some of my spooky-ish books for October and did not. Specifically! I meant to read:

Carmilla & Laura by S.D. Simper -> I have so many of Simper's books on my kindle, but this one is a standalone, which I've been prioritizing so I don't go buy more books w/o reading the ones I have. This is a re-telling, which I was going to read with / around the copy of the original that I have.

Plain Bad Heroines - Emily M. Danforth -> I believe this is told in a dual timeline? After three people are killed at a girls' boarding school, it closes its doors. Over a century later, a bestselling book is written about the girls and inspires a horror-film adaptation, filmed on-site. And I'm just going to use the last line of the goodreads blurb, bc it makes me want to read it now: But as Brookhants opens its gates once again, and our three modern heroines arrive on set to begin filming, past and present become grimly entangled—or perhaps just grimly exploited—and soon it’s impossible to tell where the curse leaves off and Hollywood begins.

My Dearest Darkest by Kayla Cottingham -> One of the books I did start. I'm 9% in. It's a YA novel, also set at a boarding school. A group of girls accidentally summon an eldritch horror who promises to grant their every desire... for a price, which becomes steeper and steeper as time goes on.

The Lost Girls by Sonia Hartl -> Also YA! I got this one recently. A vampire turned by her boyfriend ends up falling for his latest victim, while plotting with his other exes to kill him.

There are a lot more I'm carrying into next year, but I am most disappointed in not getting to those!

Oh, and the Priory of the Orange Tree. (I'm. 20% through. This one is a Beast!!)

10. What was your favorite new release of the year?

I don't buy a lot of new releases for cost reasons---these days most of my books are purchased through ThriftBooks or eBook sales (I am subbed to a few sites which notify you of deals; my favorite of which is BookBub). However! I had Nona pre-ordered <3 So. Nona.

14. What books do you want to finish before the year is over?

any of them.

going into the new year with only 2 books read last/this year makes me very sad 🥺

18. How many books did you buy?

i plead the fifth

also i have no clue

20. What was your most anticipated release? Did it meet your expectations?

gotta go with Nona. i was a weird mix of both unenthused (bc this was supposed to be kind of a side novella) and enthused (bc i love this series and i wish i could do what Tamsyn Muir does) but it not only met but surpassed my expectations. Nona was... Nona's identity was a core mystery of the book; she was, more or less, a brand new character who never showed up in the previous two books, so i was. skeptical of going in, let alone to her pov.

but.

it was so good.

i. already gushed about it. i'm not. i'm not going to do it again.

24. Did you DNF anything? Why?

think i might be DNFing The Bookshop & the Barbarian. love the premise but i've noticed. a few issues in the text.

one i have def for sure DNF'd is Alma Katsu's The Deep. her books are horror + historical fiction. i finished The Hunger (which follows the Donner Party) but it was. very much a slog. i didn't like most of the characters, the horror was there but the reveal was lackluster to me. it got 3 stars tho bc it was very much a "this book isn't bad, just not for me" type of read? (there was an aspect i did like / even found kind of funny, but i--- hm. ig if you go in not knowing like, the names of the party members it would be a spoiler to say it, but otherwise i guess its... not a spoiler? idk??? i dunno, there was a subversion that i loved, but also i'm not super familiar with the specificities of the Donner Party so it may not have even been a subversion, if her telling was that accurate? i realize this is vague. apologies.)

The Deep is supposed to be abt the Titanic which. i love the Titanic, and i love ocean horror (it's a close second to arctic horror for me, and one day i want to find a book that scratches the same itch as The White Vault podcast does). but i realized early on that it wasn't a match for me, and i wish i had DNF'd The Hunger as well.

25. What reading goals do you have for next year?

my reading goals are the same every year---26 books. that's a book every other week! originally i used to set it to 52 but i've had too many bad reading years.

my secondary reading goal is to cut my TBR (of books i own) in half. i don't. i don't want to admit how many that is bc. just looking at the number on my kindle makes me feel bad.

#asks and answers #felinemotif #livvyreads #ask gaming

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meret118 · 2 years ago

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CAN’T SPELL TREASON WITHOUT TEA BY REBECCA THORNE

If you enjoyed seeing girlfriends running a shop together in Legends and Lattes, you’re going to love this book that takes that premise and runs with it. After a close call finally convinces Reyna to quit her job guarding an indifferent queen, she and her mage girlfriend, Kianthe, run away to live out their dream: opening up a shop where Reyna can sell tea and Kianthe can read to her heart’s content. But with a vengeful queen on the lookout for her runaway guard and the most powerful mage in all the land, this little shop at the edge of dragon territory might be just as filled with mishaps as cozy chats by the fire.

THE CYBERNETIC TEA SHOP BY MEREDITH KATZ

Instead of a coffee shop like in Legends and Lattes, imagine a tea shop run by a centuries-old robot trying to keep her late owner’s dream alive. Now enter a wandering AI repair technician who’s never settled down in her life and you’ve got the perfect recipe for a sweet romance. But growing anti-robot sentiment threatens the tea shop, and it’s only if they work together and trust each other that Clara and Sal will be able to make it through.

#Books

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snowstories · 2 years ago

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Reading Round-Up May 2023

I am going to try to catalogue new media/art I've experienced each month in an effort to kick my ass and expose myself to new stuff. Because it'll be really embarrassing for me if at the end of a month I have to say 'I didn't read a single book, didn't watch any movies/shows, or play any games'. Despite the name this isn't just about reading, I just couldn't resist the alliteration. That said this month it's very much about reading because the only game I played was Stardew Valley and I didn't watch any movies or shows, press F. So with the explanation out of the way:

Things Read (Or, More Accurately: Novellas Read)

The Salt Grows Heavy by Cassandra Khaw

A newly published horror novella about a mermaid and a plague doctor coming across a village of children under the cultish leadership of three surgeons able to cheat death. Also it's set in the taiga. I pre-ordered this and I'm so glad I did because I'm absolutely obsessed with it. Honestly, this book has shot up to be one of my favourites of all time already, probably. The prose is fantastic, the world eerily well-drawn despite the general lack of detail (which works in its favor if anything), the characters unique and interesting, and I just adore the pacing and plot development. Excited to read more by this author. If you like stories with themes of death/immortality, and/or well-described viscera, you should read this. (Major content warnings include cannibalism, medical abuse/trauma, child death, and domestic abuse.)

The Seven Who Were Hanged by Leonid Andreyev

Anti-death penalty propaganda from more than a hundred years ago, available on Project Gutenburg, this novella follows seven prisoners doomed to be hanged, five insurrectionists and two murderers. A competent and interesting book well-worth reading, but I admit I don't have any strong feelings on it personally.

This Is How You Lose The Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone

Already a well-received novella, this book recently got an influx of sales thanks to one bigolas dickolas, one of the funniest things that's happened in publishing in quite some time. It's about two agents from opposite sides of a time war, exchanging letters and falling in love. It's a good book with lyrical prose and a very interesting world, and I was engaged and enjoyed reading it. However, as expected (and why I put off reading it despite it having been on my radar for a while), I was much more interested in the time war than I was in the romance, which was kind of an issue. The characters were so thoroughly defined by their love for one another that a lot of the emotional beats at the end of the book did not hit me as hard as they should've. Still, that's hardly an issue with the book; those who like romance will probably get much more out of this novella than me, and I still found it a very good book.

The Cybernetic Tea Shop by Meredith Katz

A (self-described) f/f asexual romance novella about an engineer and a near-300-year-old sapient robot who runs a tea shop in memory of her former lover/owner, who learns to move on. I really want to like this book, if only because it's a queer indie work with a lot of heart. But I just don't. In a word, this book is lackluster; the prose is lackluster, the worldbuilding lackluster, the characterization and development lackluster, etc. It persistently reminded me of fanfic as I was reading it, and that's not a compliment. It was not an awful read, and it's short and cheap, so if the premise interests you, there are worse ways to spend a few hours. But that's hardly glowing praise.

Ten Days in a Mad House by Nellie Bly

Non-fiction novella that's a collection of newspaper articles written by Bly, chronicling her commitment to and subsequent stay in the Blackwell Island insane asylum. Bly faked insanity in order to go undercover, resulting in a landmark piece of reporting that called attention to the horrific treatment of patients in insane asylums, written in 1887. A fascinating read, though obviously, tread cautiously. Bly's writing reads easy, and it's easy to see how she captivated newspaper readers at the time. It's available for free on Project Gutenberg; the edition there also includes two other articles, one of Bly attempting to find work as a servant, one of Bly working a factory job.

Through the Gates of the Silver Key, The Case of Charles Dexter Ward, The Dreams in the Witch House, The Shadow over Innsmouth, The History of the Necronomicon, The Dunwich Horror, The Festival, The Haunter of the Dark, The Whisperer in the Darkness, At the Mountains of Madness, and Out of the Aeons by H.P. Lovecraft

I've been making my way through Lovecraft's bibliography and specifically the Dream Cycle stories for the past few months. This month I finally finished the Dream Cycle, and began working through the Cthulu Mythos stories I've thusfar missed.

I fucking hate Lovecraft's writing. It's formulaic as all hell; if you've read one Lovecraftian horror story, you've read at least 90% of the others. His descriptions can be quite vivid, but too often he insists on not fucking describing shit when it actually comes to the horrors, and I get that's the point, but you can only say 'the horror is indescribable' in so many ways before it becomes boring. Plus, even when he does describe things, his descriptions always follow the same cadence, sentence structure, and vocabulary, making them, again, formulaic as all hell. Some of his concepts are interesting, but they're invariably bogged down by his absolutely rancid worldviews. His racism is, rightfully, famous, but his stories indicate a deeply classist, exceptionalist, and eugenicist worldview as well, not to mention a preoccupation with escapism and nostalgia that's beyond childish, which makes these stories absolutely fucking insufferable. I quickly resorted to finding readings of his stories on Librivox and Youtube when possible, so that I could at least be doing something else while I worked through them. From the ones I've read this month, I'd say the ones worth reading if you're interested in Lovecraft's worldbuilding are Through the Gates of the Silver Key (though you will need to read, at the very least, The Silver Key first, and preferably some other Dream Cycle and/or Randolph Carter stuff, especially The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath), The History of the Necronomicon (exactly what it sounds like, extremely short), The Whisperer in the Darkness, Out of the Aeons, and At The Mountains of Madness. Reluctantly, I’ll also recommend The Shadow over Innsmouth by virtue of it being basically required Lovecraft reading, but I was rather unimpressed by it. Also major racism warnings for pretty much everything but specifically Out of the Aeons in general, two instances of the N-word with the hard R in Through the Gates of the Silver Key, a white guy cosplaying an Indian one in that same story, and whatever the fuck Shadow over Innsmouth had going on, this paragraph is already far too long, I do not have the time to get into it.

TL;DR don’t read Lovecraft but if you must, from this month’s stories the ones worth suffering through are Through The Gates of the Silver Key, The History of the Necronomicon, The Whisperer in the Darkness, Out of the Aeons, At The Mountains of Madness, and The Shadow over Innsmouth.

#my posts #reading round-up #writing wise

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