#a plus library

[imakemywings]

A+ Library Review: "Loveless" by Alice Oseman

This is not technically the first installment of this, but it is the first time I'm making it A Thing. A+ Library is my new segment where I review books with asexual and/or aromantic characters.

Previous review: The Circus Infinite by Khan Wong

The book description for Loveless is:

Georgia has never been in love, never kissed anyone, never even had a crush - but as a fanfic-obsessed romantic she's sure she'll find her person one day. As she starts university with her best friends, Pip and Jason, in a whole new town far from home, Georgia's ready to find romance, and with her outgoing roommate on her side and a place in the Shakespeare Society, her 'teenage dream' is in sight. But when her romance plan wreaks havoc amongst her friends, Georgia ends up in her own comedy of errors, and she starts to question why love seems so easy for other people but not for her.

The character: Georgia Warr, aro/ace

So let's get to it.

TL;DR: Thumbs up from me

Since Loveless centers entirely around the aroace experience, I will not be breaking the review into sections like last time.

Loveless is a coming-of-age story about Georgia's first year at college. It begins with her graduation party out of high school and ends with her establishing plans for her second year of college. It's very slice-of-life, with a focus pretty much exclusively on Georgia's interpersonal relationships and her personal growth.

Oof. Okay. Loveless was at times hard for me to read, and not because it's bad, but because it hit so close to so many of my own experiences at Georgia's age. There were so many times I felt myself going "Oh yeah, I remember that. Yep, there's that phase. Yep, I told myself that story too. Yep, yep, yep."

Just like Georgia, I considered myself someone with "high standards" who would inevitably break the romance and sex barrier when I got to college. This book hit on so many of my own insecurities from that phase, some of which I still struggle with at times, but I will try to be objective about this review nonetheless.

Loveless does a wonderful job of unfurling Georgia's journey, from the start where she considers herself "just like everyone else" but a bit slow on the romance front, to realizing she's Different, through the difficult process of starting to accept that difference as part of her.

Unlike my last review, Loveless earns its found family by showing how Georgia and her friends grow together and apart and back together--with additions. Everyone in Loveless is on their own journey--and at different stages of it. From Pip who's been out as lesbian since she was fifteen and eager for a first girlfriend, to Rooney who's long suspected she's not really straight, to Georgia who's only just grasping the words to describe her experience.

And sometimes they hurt each other! One of the complaints I had about One Last Stop was how all the relationships (protag's mom aside) are entirely fluffy feel-good. Loveless eschews that by showing how friends can hurt each other even when they don't mean to, and how people have competing needs, and how past struggles can impact your present. But in spite of that, it's clear how much all of the main cast grow to care for each other over the course of the book, such that the ending is truly heartwarming.

The prose suits Georgia's voice, which is to say it sounds like an 18/19 year old girl is speaking. That means it's not very eloquent, and it can be blunt and cringy, but in a very believable, realistic way to me.

Georgia's coming of age isn't limited to just her orientation. At the start of the book, she is painfully alien to herself. Georgia doesn't seem to know anything about herself, as if she's spent all her adolescence wrapped in a thick blanket glued to fanfic and refusing to interrogate any of her own feelings--which is probably what happened. It means that she has a very rough time when she enters college. Unlike many such stories, Georgia is not jumping at the bit to be on her own--in the moment when her parents dust off their hands and prepare to leave her with her boxes of stuff in her new dorm, Georgia contemplates begging them not to leave her.

Loveless really captures a sentiment I experienced with asexuality, which was the sense of being left behind by your peers, of feeling childish and immature. Desperate to shake the feeling, Georgia makes an admirable effort at "putting herself out there," doing all kinds of things she doesn't really think she'll like, but wants to give a try, just in case. In some cases, she bombs--but in others, like the Shakespeare Society, she really blossoms. I thought the book makes an excellent picture of a lost young person beginning their adult life with no real idea of who they are, and trying to solve that problem.

Perhaps most painful of all, Loveless captures Georgia's fear of not knowing what her future will look like now that whirlwind love affair-->marriage-->2.5 kids is off the table. It's particularly difficult for her because Georgia so desperately wants that romance--except that for her it's something of a mirage: as soon as it gets close--like when a boy tries to kiss her--all her interest is gone in a flash. Georgia wants to want romance and sex...but she doesn't, really. Even when she's accepted her orientation, she really struggles with what this means for the rest of her life, which also felt very relatable. Partnering up is seen as virtually inevitable, and as the book points out: life is scary! It's way less scary when you have a Person! Therefore, part of Georgia's insecurity and uncertainty focuses a lot on what her future is going to be, and it's not a question she's solved by the end of the book. But it is one she's becoming less afraid of.

There were a few things that struck me as odd, like Pip's claim she had never "fully connected" with friends who aren't Latina, a sentiment echoed by Sonil's refusal to accept his asexuality until he met other Indian people who also used the label...obviously there are certain things that friends who don't share your racial or cultural background may not fully understand, but the idea that you can't connect with anyone who doesn't share your same racial make-up is...uncomfortable, I think. But these remarks pass quickly.

Additionally, the way Rooney and Georgia berate themselves for "experimenting" comes off unnecessarily harsh to me...part of dating is learning whether you're compatible with that person. And yeah--sometimes that means figuring out if you are or are not attracted to them, or their gender more broadly. There's nothing inherently wrong with starting to date someone you're not sure you're into, and then realizing you aren't.

The book also beats Georgia's fanfic reading to death a little, in my view. It gets mentioned way more than it needs to, and citing specific ships and tropes a) is going to date the book like hell; and b) is irritatingly obtuse to anyone who doesn't know what "Stucky" or "flower shop AU" is.

If you're deep into the ace/aro online community, this book may come off as retreading a lot of well-trod ground for you. There's nothing especially ground-breaking in it. But if you're not so connected, or you're new to the aro/ace community, or you just want a book that still-coming-out you needed, I think this is a great pick.

Next review: The Bruising of Qilwa (TBP)

[merlins-strawberriesandroses]

POV you’ve informed the Queen and the Court’s Sorcerer of something and they very clearly know something that they’re not letting on

[agent37]

theyre dancing :)

[+ angela and limbus birthday :33]

[strongindependentcheesecake]

Friendly reminder that if you're in the U.S. and have a library card you can get a bunch of free entertainment on your phone! Libby gives you access to your library's catalog of e-books and audio books, and Kanopy has a large selections of movies and shows!

Both of these are completely free and only need a library card number!!!!! And keep in mind there are tons of other benefits, these are just the ones I'm talking about!

[skeletoninthemelonland]

I had a dream you drew too many Springtraps and I kept scrolling down liking all of it

Going insane

honestly the urge to do just that is there but the energy isn't so. yeah

[jonsnowunemploymentera]

From scrapped bits of ACOK, looks like Jon is older than Robb?

The Old Bear gave a loud snort, and the raven took flight, flapping in a circle around the room. “If I had a man for every vow I have seen broken in my day, the Wall would not lack for defenders, I promise you. Especially when…it might have been you, Jon. You are the elder, are you not?”

“By a few turns of the moon. But Robb is trueborn. That is what he shares with Maester Aemon.”

It’s been a hot debate for years so it’s nice to have it semi-confirmed. Not sure how long “by a few turns of the moon” is, but it is an interesting inclusion nonetheless because Robb was conceived two weeks(?) before Ned left Riverrun. So Jon can’t have been conceived during the war, as Ned claims, and that is huge.

[fictionadventurer]

Potential July Reading

The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart

At the Back of the North Wind by George MacDonald

Parnassus on Wheels by Christopher Morley

Farmer Giles of Ham by J.R.R. Tolkien

Bella at Midnight by Diane Stanley (may sub in different Cinderella retelling)

Old Front Line by John Masefield

Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis or The Everlasting Man by G.K. Chesterton

A Golden Age mystery

A Shakespeare play (a movie counts)

Something Robin Hood related (movies can count)

[aroaessidhe]

i cannot emphasise enough how deeply i have been suffering making this foam armour for my red cosplay. telling myself it's gonna be worth it LMAO

[imakemywings]

A+ Library: "Every Heart a Doorway" by Seanan McGuire

The reviews continue! Although this may be the last one for a while; I recently added about thirty new books to my TBR thanks to a library rec list, so I'll have to dig through some of those. However, I will say that so far, this has been my favorite of my ace/aro book list.

"A+ Library" is my bit where I review books with asexual and/or aromantic characters.

Previous review: The Bruising of Qilwa

The description of this book is:

Children have always disappeared under the right conditions; slipping through the shadows under a bed or at the back of a wardrobe, tumbling down rabbit holes and into old wells, and emerging somewhere... else. But magical lands have little need for used-up miracle children. Nancy tumbled once, but now she’s back. The things she’s experienced... they change a person. The children under Miss West’s care understand all too well. And each of them is seeking a way back to their own fantasy world. But Nancy’s arrival marks a change at the Home. There’s a darkness just around each corner, and when tragedy strikes, it’s up to Nancy and her new-found schoolmates to get to the heart of the matter. No matter the cost.

The character: Nancy Whitman, asexual

Verdict: Thumbs up!

The Asexual Rep This one falls somewhere between Loveless, which is all about the protag's identity, and The Bruising of Qilwa, which hardly touches on it at all. Protagonist Nancy is a self-declared asexual, something she states in such terms when her roommate nudges her about maybe wanting to have sex with a cute boy at the school. Obviously Nancy feels something for Kade, but she does privately think to herself as they grow closer that it might be complicated when her interest in physical intimacy doesn't go beyond kissing (however, she does have fun with a good flirt). However, romance is not a part of this book, and although Nancy might occasionally contemplate the idea that she has a crush on Kade, this story isn't about that.

Nancy, like many of the teens and young adults in this book, feels out of place in our world. That was what drew her to her fantasy realm (The Halls of the Dead) in the first place, and her time there only exacerbated the feeling when she did return to our world. I think this makes her, as a protagonist, particularly suited to an asexual story. As an asexual, I've often felt strange and out of place in a very sexual world, and I can understand, particularly as a teen or young adult, the allure of a world where you don't feel that way.

But within the school and among her peers, Nancy's asexuality is never what makes her odd.

The Rest This book obviously hit a nostalgia chord for me, because surprise surprise! I loved books about young girls falling into fantasy worlds and having crazy adventures well beyond their maturity levels growing up. This book made me think of every one of those stories I read growing up (Hello Alice, and May Bird, and Lucy, and Alyss, and Milo, and all the rest) and it felt like such a love letter both to those stories and to the children who cherished them growing up. I remember being a kid who wanted so badly to have an adventure like that. So I found it completely understandable that all of the characters in this book are desperate to get back to their fantasy realms. The one thing that unites them more than any other is the understanding that any of them would give anything to go back.

Growing up, I was always a little disappointed when the isekai protag returned home, but it was the way those stories always ended. Coming up the front steps of the childhood home, at once familiar yet now grown distant, a light on in the bedroom lit by parents still awaiting the child's return, and a deep breath as the protagonist steps back into their old life, now armed with new knowledge and maturity. But as a kid, I never thought that much about what happened after that moment.

This book does a marvelous job of exploring that. What it means for kids who have been through this, what it's like trying to resume an old life, and most of all, what it's like when you weren't ready to leave your fantasy realm behind. Each child went somewhere different, so they all have different stories to tell, but they all refer to those places as "home." 

I would have gladly read an entire book that focused exclusively on the emotional fallout of their return and the struggle to reintegrate into a world they had chosen to abandon, which made  the turn halfway through the book to a mystery feel slightly jarring in terms of genre shift. Nevertheless, the heightened stakes do give our former fantasy child protags a chance to shine, by using the skills they picked up on their adventures and proving that actually, sometimes they're exactly the people you want in a pinch.

I enjoyed the prose a lot; it's poetic without being clunky and very vivid, particularly in emotional terms.

Every Heart is the first in a ten book series, but it's also self-contained, so if you finish this one and feel satisfied, there's no requirement to read the others. I do plan to go on with the others though, because I found this one so delightful.

[soracities]

Hi, do you or any of your followers have any recs for audiobooks? Preferably that are free, I just would like to listen to something while knitting but not sure how to start exploring since I don't know who are good narrators or things like that. Thanks so much!!

i don't listen to audiobooks unfortunately but any audiobook devotees please please send in your recs for anon, thank you 💗

[frederickkreibug]

Re-entering this fandom by giving A tier list based on how/if these vat7k characters would fuck up a 20 piece buffalo wing

Free for debate

[let-them-fight]

[kingofthewilderwest]

I need infinite money to buy a giant library of music scores.

Yeah yeah yeah yeah IMSLP free, I love IMSLP, IMSLP is magic.

But fancy scorrrrrrreeeeeeeeesssssssss instead of photocopies

[chef's kiss]

Brain thinks differently analyzing scores when you got that yummy official score in your hands

[macaulaytwins]

you can check out dvds from the library. if you even care.

[deadnatura11]

Now wondering if there's any connection between the British firefighter actor and the pedophile guy's library...

[isfjmel-phleg]

It is a thing specifically about multiple people that I have known whose favorite color was purple that they absolutely Commit to making that color their Trademark, in a way that I don't think I've noticed so much with other color preferences, and I respect that. Know what you like. Own it.