#the divorce colony

[ofliterarynature]

FEBRUARY 2024 WRAP UP

[loved liked ok nope dnf (reread) book club*]

The Djinn Waits a Hundred Years • The Memory Librarian • Pixels of You* • Arch-Enemies • Moby Dyke • Pip Bartlett’s Guide to Magical Creatures • A Sinister Revenge • Lud in the Mist • Crying in H Mart • Something Close to Magic • Hula • (Renegades) • The Divorce Colony • Foundryside • Earthlings • A Far Wilder Magic

total: 13 books (12 audiobook, 1 print)

Not as many books this month! And not just because February has fewer days, I was really in a funk this month and struggling to pay attention to my audiobooks (and enjoy them). You wouldn't think there's such a thing as too many books, but I think the overtime hours at work are hitting their peak mental health destruction. Here's to hoping things improve in March!

The Divorce Colony (4.5 stars) - genuinely can't believe this was my 3rd nonfic of the year already! I picked a print copy of this up at a library sale in December after hearing about divorce colonies in the early 20th century on a recent episode of the 99% Invisible podcast. Turns out this book was actually about the beginning of the moment that took place in Sioux Falls, South Dakota in the 1800's. Western states had shorter residency periods and less strict divorce laws, so women (and the occasional man) would travel west and live there for several months in order to obtain a divorce. This book tracks the movement through the stories of 4 of the more infamous cases to make the papers, and does an incredible job of weaving in the surrounding political and religious discussions. Would recommend, and has a great cover to boot!

Renegades (3 stars) - a reread, and for some reason it was torture. I originally read this back in 2018 and loved it, and wanted to tackle it again and actually finish the rest of the series. But I kept getting worked up and frustrated this time around! It kept trying to take itself seriously while also being very YA and kind of superhero-camp, and I was absolutely overthinking it lol. I found the strength to press on into book two, Archenemies (3.5 stars). I liked it a bit more! Something about it being new, the story being a bit more settled and maybe getting a better grasp on its message/politics, the characters growing more, me figuring out that I shouldn't listen to the audiobook for more than an hour or so at a time, lmao. Not great, but fun, and possibly worth reading? I'll keep y'all updated when I finish book 3.

Hula (5 stars) - incredible. Part generational family story, part history, part discussion of what it means to be Hawaiian, culturally and legally. Not always the easiest of reads, but it was so so worth it. It was also doing something very interesting with parts of the narration voiced by a collective "we" (culture/community?) that I would love to get a look at in print. Highly recommend, I'll definitely be getting myself a copy.

Something Close to Magic (4.5 stars) - an absolute delight! The Gail Carson Levine comp on this one is not entirely unearned, anyone who's a fan of fairy tale type fantasies will enjoy this, I had a great time! Very interestingly, it has characters who are in their mid to late teens, but is written in a way where they're still allowed to be young, to the point I'm surprised it didn't get shoehorned into MG instead of YA. If the author writes any more of these I'd be happy to read them.

Crying in H Mart (3.5 stars) - nonfic number 4! I'm sure everyone's heard of this one by now, which is why I finally picked it up. It's fine (which is why it got an extra .5 star), but on the scale of take it or leave it, I'd leave it. It just wasn't for me and I kind of wish I'd dnf'd it. A great cover though.

Lud-in-the-Mist (3.5 stars) - this one seems to be considered a sort of early precursor to fantasy and fairy tale type stories from the early 20th century, and I was eager to try it! While I definitely don't think it would feel out of place amongst it's more recent fellows (think the Last Unicorn, Robin McKinley, DWJ, etc), I absolutely could not get into it. Probably the chief recipient of "my brain doesn't want to cooperate, sorry," so maybe I'll give it another shot someday.

A Sinister Revenge (4 stars) - enjoyable as always! Not to hide this deep in my reviews or anything, but have the Emily Wilde people tried Veronica Speedwell yet?

Pip Bartlett's Guide to Magical Creatures (3 stars) - This one's been sitting unread on my shelf for a while, and since I was on a bit of a Maggie Stiefvater run, I figured it was perfect! Well. Unless you are like 7, this was so bad. Not good. Having previously read and not liked a book by Maggie's co-author Jackson Pearce, I think it would not be unreasonable for me to assume she did most of the writing while Maggie did the illustrations - if the audiobook had been any longer than 4 hours I'd have absolutely DNF'd it, and I have no intention of continuing the series.

Moby Dyke: An Obsessive Quest to Track Down the Last Remaining Lesbian Bars in the Country (4.5 stars) - part of me was wondering what I was doing trying this lol, not being someone who drinks or goes to bars, OR, as previously mentioned, is not the biggest fan of memoirs. It was not, as I hoped, also part research project, but it is a travelogue, and as a consequence has a strong narrative thread. It also has a lot of discussions about issues in the LGBTQ+ community, and overall I really liked it once I figured out what it was doing!

Pixels of You (3.5 stars) - a very short sapphic rivals-to friends-to lovers graphic novel about a human-form AI and a human with an android eye competing for a photography internship at an art gallery. The creators clearly put SO much thought into their characters and worldbuilding, but sadly there is nowhere near enough length here to do it all justice, and a number of elements felt very odd or under explored. The relationship parts are great! I just think this needed to be twice as long to really given everything its due, or maybe explored in prose instead.

The Memory Librarian (3.5 stars) - to start, I know nothing about the musical album this is related to, so I don't know how much that might have affected my reading. Overall I wasn't super impressed - when I discovered that the first story was cowritten by Alaya Dawn Johnson - no shade to her - I almost dropped it then, I just really didn't like her writing style in the one book I've read. But I stuck through it. Of the five stories, only one really stuck in my mind - Nevermind, cowritten by Danny Lore, which I could have read an entire novel about. I wish I could recommend it on its own, but overall I just don't quite understand the world Monae has created.

The Djinn Waits a Hundred Years (3.5 stars) - I probably should say more about the book, it was fine, I was surprised to find that it's set in relatively current day, I found myself a lot more interested in the second narrative about the house's history, which did make me cry a bit. Mostly though, I really just want to let you know how MUCH of a non-entity the djinn was in this story, I have no idea why it was there and why it was included in the title of the book. All the author had to do was make the house a little more sentient and haunted and it would be fine, idk. Read it if you want, but it's not one I would rec.

DNF'S

Foundryside - I was so ready. I had the first two audiobooks checked out, I had the third one on hold. I started this but oh, the writing. bleh. I was looking thought reviews and someone referred to it as something like "21st century internet speak." In a high fantasy novel. I noped out at just 10%.

Earthlings - I've considered the author's other book before but haven't read it, but thought maybe a sci-fic book would work better for me? The beginning was odd but not uninteresting, and I might have continued if it had stayed that way. But then the main character was in school(?) and her teacher started getting handsy after class and I wasn't invested enough to stick it out.

A Far Wilder Magic - the success of Something Close to Magic made me a little too hopeful I think, bc while I'm still a little leery around YA, I know people have liked this. And it sounded interesting, truly, and I love the cover. But first it was the religion stuff. And I didn't really like the characters. Then it's like, oh, this is the same plot as The Scorpio Races, but nowhere near it's quality in any shape or form. I decided to stop while I was ahead, before I started to actually dislike it. (anyway here's your PSA to go read The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater, I recommend doing it in October if you can).

[greencheekconure27]

hey what's your beef with peta? if it's that they operate "kill shelters" you might want to read the newsweek fact check https://www.newsweek.com/fact-check-peta-responsible-deaths-thousands-animals-1565532 (tldr: "Just as a hospice has a high mortality rate, so does a shelter that takes in those near end-of-life, feral, aggressive, dying and discarded animals." "Cherry-picking animals to only allow in the most adoptable at shelters with limited admission (otherwise known as 'no-kill') policies doesn't help and often leads to people dumping animals, or neglecting them in other ways,")

Oh no it's so much more than that.Constant spreading of pseudoscience and misinformation, ableist campaigns (such as "drinking milk causes autism", racist and antisemitic campaigns (comparing pig farming to the Holocaust for instance), sexist campaigns under the guise of feminism (veganism is feminist because cows have a womb they are women too) more misinformation and pseudoscience, financial scams, at least one instance of abducting someone's beloved and cared for pet to euthanize it, harassment, using emotional manipulation on children ("your mommy is a murderer because she eats meat" etc), harassing and breaking into zoos and research labs , frequently killing the wild animals they rescue, that one bullshit monkey photograph lawsuit, being against ALL animal agriculture and hunting EVERYWHERE, being opposed to pets (yes cats and dogs too), actually paying people to abuse farm animals for staged videos, cultish behavior,absolutely insane ideas, and oh, misinformation and pseudoscience.

As to kill shelters, it's the lies and the hypocrisy that bothers me, because these are the same fucking people who will insist they're doing good by keeping animals alive when they have no quality of life to speak of anymore. One moment they're gushing over some poor piglet born without trotters or blind legless bird being kept alive and miserable for months, the next they're all pro euthanizing healthy animals en masse, all while they collect donations for both.

I know a lot of people donate to them in good faith but don't. Even if you are vegan. They're not doing anything good with that money.

[lavender-gayz]

I know Dulcie’s having a terrible time throughout, but episode 6 of Deadloch might be my favourite

“Well, I would say to them, Jeremy, that the killer is only targeting cis-het white men, and our market research shows that that's a far cry from our Feastival patron demographic. In fact, given that the victim demographic is usually responsible for the perpetration of violence, Deadloch may well be the safest place to be right now for many members of our Feastival community.”

“Imagine if you'd arrested Skye! I'd have divorced you on the spot.” (Promise?)

“And I know this because my wife told me because I am blended into this situation like an onion in a soup.”

“Who is taking notes? This is just numbers!”

“Ma'ams, sorry I'm late. I got poisoned.”

“It [the voice-to-text software] doesn't understand our accents.”

“Killer dyke! Not you; your mum!”

“Why does Margaret Carruthers get to decide who deserves what?” :(

“Ever since Trent got murdered, you and your mum have been creeping around like you're the fucking Hamburglar twins.”

“I’m pregnant and I can't be committed to this relationship if you're a serial killer.”

That shot of Margaret Carruthers in front of the antlers doubling as devil horns. That's the stuff, baby!!!

THE FIGHT

Cath blithely missing that Dulcie had been miserable for five years :(

“Maybe you'd have remembered the date better, Dulcie, if you were at home babysitting Tom with me that weekend instead of FUCKING SOME OTHER WOMAN IN A WORK SHOWER.”

“Right now, my job's more important than us, Cath. It's more important than you.” OOH.

Bobbing bodies at the Cinema Aquatica, or Floating Flicks. They’re both good names!

[foursaints]

rosekiller would be on the streets protesting for palestine

i find it a bit.. tasteless or at least offensively cavalier to discuss real world genocide through the lens of harry potter characters. but i support you and entirely agree with where you’re coming from

donation link for medical aid for palestine

continuously updating google doc of palestinian escape funds (URGENT)

donation to palestinian children’s relief fund

gaza emergency appeal

donate to arab.org with one click

[screw-u-vaanu]

.

[sailoreuterpe]

My Father of English Descent: The English Monarchy is the best form of government! All of the countries that are ruled by the English are so lucky! Being ruled by the English is the best! My Mother of Irish Descent:

[lord-of-tomatoes]

Western or white people have this tedency to only interested with pre-islam muslim majority countries thanks to orientalism. As if like they assume just because the people mostly muslim that mean disconnected with pre islam culture. Worse some people really think all arab nation has same culture because "islam"

Islam is a big part of their history and culture so to completely disregard it and only focus on stuff before it is kinda stupid to me

Even after the Islamic crusades or whatever it's called in English the religion still affected their social climate and their relations to each other

It's all pretty fascinating stuff and a majority of ppl don't even care to know about it

I'm mostly focused on Egypt on this blog cause I'm Egyptian but other Arabic countries are really cool and interesting too

And also they all have the same culture?? That'd be like me saying that all European countries are the same cause they're all Christian or something

Arabic nations history is very cool and I'd recommend everyone to at least look into it

If you really can't handle history that doesn't have to do with your white European blorbo look up the colonisation of Arabic countries pre ww1 your blorbos are there i promise

[zhengzi]

just saw someone did a dis/co ely/sium x ham/ilton crossover art and i have weird feelings about it...

[girlhaggard]

the art historical canon is clearly founded upon western/european narratives, and this bias has always been abundantly clear throughout my education in the discipline. it manifests itself in academic texts or museum exhibitions which indiscriminately lump together african, oceanic, asian, and indigenous american art despite these works originating from wildly different cultures, contexts, and time periods; through the flippant recognition of "primitive" art as it relates to european modernist sensibilities; when entry-level art history classes discuss european theft of foreign artifacts through the lens of a colonial savior complex as opposed to the cultural genocide it actually is. we discuss the missing relief sculptures of the parthenon not as left but as part of the patronizing Elgin Marble narrative: we are saving these historically significant works from the turmoil of the global south! in reality we are re-writing the cultural histories of these important and significant civilizations. we are disrespecting their histories and customs and the people which built those from the ground up. this theft and western/colonial re-contextualization, this purposeful reframing of the canon to favor european conventions and sensibilities goes so much deeper than even the most woke art history program will dare to delve into.

[badolmen]

I wish every ‘humans are a plague upon the earth/we are a disease/it would be best for the environment if humans all died’ ecofascist a very Shut The Fuck Up

[ofliterarynature]

tbr of doom update • february 2024

Read

Pip Bartlett’s Guide to Magical Creatures

The Memory Librarian

Archenemies

Renegades

The Divorce Colony

Keeping: The Divorce Colony

Unhauling

Pip Bartlett’s Guide to Magical Creatures

Pip Bartlett’s Guide to Unicorn Training

The Memory Librarian

Archenemis

Renegades

[thatboxylady]

actual thing that happened in VC with my partner: Partner: then there is Blackarachnia and at first she thinks Thrust is Silverbolt- Me: she fucked that bike. Partner: (laughing) yeah she- she does that and then Thrust- Me: Thrust fucked her boyfriend also, made him gay. Partner: (wheezing) yeAH??

EXCELLENT

Thrust's fuck-revenge-arc is still gold. He saw Jetstorm's itinerary for executing the Gay Agenda and just decided to roll with it. The first casualty being Silverbolt was always a given. <3

[lizardsfromspace]

The thing about Cottagecore is that is a fetishized aesthetic of country life, divorced from labor and idealized by a primarily urban audience with a backward looking ethos of tradition. They are not prepared for the stresses of a rural life: farming; harvesting; tapping pumpkins to ensure none of them have been replaced with flesh; losing out on income by having to use one of your pigs in a blood sacrifice to paint protective sigils over your doors and windows; checking cracks and chimneys for the flesh-vines of the Pumpkin Lord; having to decide, before the Growth is complete, whether that's really your tradwife or an amassment of vines, leaves, and blood in the shape of your tradwife; ignoring their desperate pleas that "I'm me! No! No!" as you burn them alive, realizing too late you picked wrong; and the exploitative corporate nature of commercial farming in 2024. All seen through a deeply colonial lens, of course

[delighted-mirage]

Not to derail how absolutely abhorrent, bland, and full of military ass kissing shit biden’s literal speeches are, but I wanted to also take the time on the post to point out how shitty Israel is!

here is an article about how israel treats the actual Holocaust survivors it took in. yk. the whole reason israel was supposed to have been created in the first place. they've been withholding these peoples' benefits and many live under the poverty line. all holocaust survivors are going to be dead by 2025. it's a huge disgrace.

how israel changed the historic names of palestine's cities to sound more "hebrew" and therefore jewish. to make it sound like they were "reclaiming" the land. it started when "israel" was first established. everything in "israel" should be in arabic, not hebrew. bc time passed. and a whole civilization was literally already there when they got there. so most names in "israel" are arabic that looks more english/hebrew. it’s erasure of the literal history here.

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some more proof I have found of how i*rael treats holocaust survivors if anyone wanted further proof of how deeply fucked up this state is. these are the posts/articles that genuinely broke any semblance israel had any worth even within itself, and ofc the focus should be on palestinians but in case anyone needed that final peg of colonialism worth knocked out like I did. there are Zero redeeming qualities.

and last but never the least and in fact the most important, links to help palestine.

first is arab.org, my personal favorite, that uses the click money from an ad to fund donations to palestine. great way to help if you can’t donate now! anything always helps, even just spreading posts is doing something great.

second is a list of companies to boycott that helps me out a lot when I’m shopping. it even has alternatives, the reasons not to buy the product, and a very handy search function. it is consistently updating!

third is an Amazing list by @sulfurcosmos of ways you can help Palestine. includes how to write letters of protest, calls to make, donation organizations, and is regularly updated.

free palestine. from the river to the sea palestine will be free. 🇵🇸🍉🇵🇸

The Most Progressive President In History, on the genocide of Palestinians: "They're animals. They're animals. [...] They're a brutal, ugly, inhumane people, and they have to be eliminated."

[bombusbombus]

Ok normally I have a personal rule against posting about comics until I'm done with them. But can I just say that reading Chris Claremont's characterisation of Magneto with current events in Israel & Palestine being what they are is absolutely bonkers.

[arolesbianism]

Thinks oh so hard abt raccoon au printing pod doomed yuri.... What if you were a robot in love with your fellow robot but your past human selves had to fuck it all up and murder eachother 🙄