#the girls at the kingfisher club

[micamicster]

"The 12 Dancing Princesses" was one of my very first fairy tales, buried in a battered hardcover edition of The Random House Book of Fairy Tales from 1985. It stuck with me because I was aware of not reading it as I was meant to; I was rooting for the wicked princesses. I wanted them to keep on dancing their way through their subterranean magic land of diamond trees and princely boatmen, and couldn't see any reason why they shouldn't. I'm profoundly grateful to find that I wasn't alone in that view.

~ NPR review of The Girls at the Kingfisher Club by Genevieve Valentine

[hidekomoon]

books read in 2023: The Girls at the Kingfisher Club by Genevieve Valentine

[nkjemisin]

[momosandlemonsoda]

Fic authors self rec! When you get this, reply with your favorite five fics that you've written, then pass on to at least five other writers (except me because obvs I have done it). Spread the self-love ❤

Thanks so much for tagging me, @bbcphile, how fun! I ended up rereading some of my older fics for this. Onward!

In no particular order, let's start with Not Too Sentimental, which I wrote for Yuletide in 2014 (which is not, I regret to say, ten years ago! Je refuse!). I based this on the wonderful novel The Girls at the Kingfisher Club by Genevieve Valentine, which is a Jazz age retelling of the 12 dancing princesses. It's gen and about the two oldest sisters, Jo and Lou, who have a love-hate relationship.

Next is the first DMBJ fic I wrote, Reach for their Scabbards, which is Wu Xie/Zhang Qiling/Liu Sang for my beloved @uschickens, who in the best tradition of fandom friends dragged me down into the pits with her. Wu Xie and Xiaoge take care of Liu Sang and then decide to keep him. There's a whole series.

Whatever Our Reckoning is also in DMBJ, a short little fic I wrote because we needed more Hei Xiazi/Xiao Hua/Huo Xiuxiu fic (we always need more but we needed it for a specific reason) and it's a twisty little thing. I like that there's nothing explained and everything explained in under 3k words. I have a sequel started, but I don't know that I will ever finish it.

I wrote With Water and a Star for an exchange and until recently it was the longest fic I wrote without coauthors. I got the assignment and I said to @uschickens, well, @merinnan really loves fake dating but how can you do fake dating with three people? And it turns out this is how. Another HeiHuaHuo fic, and what I loved is that I managed to pull it off, three points of view, a satisfying story, a happy ending. It even has a little post-story sex-tra.

(I feel like I'm pushing it with the extra links but also, this is a self-rec post and I do what I want).

The last one... ok, I'm going to take "5 favorite fics you've written" to mean finished fics. I love my wips, but in terms of finished fic, I'm going to go with No Rug to Sleep On or Fish to Eat. KinnPorsche fandom, Kim/Chay (why did I fall for the most adorable little pairing? because of all the delicious trauma? because they don't end up together at the end? how about both.gif). Kim gets turned into a kitten and events ensue. The tag "Kitten Thinks About Nothing But Murder All Day" is absolutely correct.

This was so fun to do! Tagging @merinnan @foxofninetales @alxina @mekare-art and @starstainedwings, if they want to do it or anyone else. No pressure at all!

[mendingbone]

i keep seeing people in their late teens/early twenties having a "[X] content intended for younger audiences does not feel satisfying to me anymore but i don't know where to start to branch out into adult fiction" moment and i thought i would give some recommendations for adult fiction for my fellow creepy crawly queer people. all or at least a LOT of it will be on the darker and more fucked up side bc i primarily engage with horror and thriller media personally but feel free to add on with more or recommendations from other genres :)

edit: i am continuing to add to this list so there might be new recs (highlighted in pink) in here every once in a while! also want to add that there's a variety of POC, queer, and disabled authors in here as well, i am also all of the above (asian, aro lesbian, poly, disabled) and tried to incorporate as many wickedly talented, compelling narratives as possible. that's all, happy reading!

A Certain Hunger, Chelsea G. Summers

A Darker Shade of Magic, V. E Schwab*

A Dowry of Blood, S.G Gibson

Animal, Lisa Taddeo*

A Ripple of Power and Promise, Jordan A. Day*

Bunny, Mona Awad*

Children of Blood and Bone, Tomi Adeyemi*

Cursed Bread, Sophie Mackintosh*

Dark Places, Gillian Flynn

Dead Girls Don't Say Sorry, Alex Ritany

Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead, Olga Tokarczuk*

Eileen, Ottessa Moshfegh*

Fruiting Bodies, Kathryn Harlan*

Goddess of Filth, V. Castro*

Gone Girl, Gillian Flynn

House of Leaves, Mark Danielewski

If I Had Your Face, Frances Cha*

Into the Drowning Deep, Mira Grant

Iron Widow, Xiran Jay Zhao

Jackal, Erin E. Adams*

Juniper and Thorn, Ava Reid*

Kindred, Octavia Butler*

Manhunt, Gretchen Felker-Martin*

Mexican Gothic, Silvia Moreno-Garcia

Ninefox Gambit, Yoon Ha Lee*

Rabbits, Terry Miles*

Scorched Grace, Margot Douaihy*

Sharp Objects, Gillian Flynn

She is a Haunting, Trang Thahn Tran

Slewfoot, Brom

Sorrowland, Rivers Soloman

Summer Sons, Lee Mandelo

Supper Club, Lara Williams*

The Centre, Ayesha Manazir Siddiqi*

The Change, Kirsten Miller

The Death of Jane Lawrence, Caitlin Starling*

The Dreamer Trilogy, Maggie Stiefvater

The Haunting of Hill House, Shirley Jackson

The Hollow Places, T. Kingfisher*

The Human Origins of Beatrice Porter, Soraya Palmer*

The Jasmine Throne, Tasha Suri

The Locked Tomb, Tamsyn Muir

The Luminous Dead, Caitlin Starling*

The Red Tree, Caitlin Kiernan*

The Unfamiliar Garden, Benjamin Percy*

Vicious, V. E Shwab

Wake, Siren, Nina MacLaughlin*

We Have Always Lived in the Castle, Shirley Jackson

What Moves the Dead, T. Kingfisher*

[wetcatspellcaster]

I saw you respond that you a very much not an SJM fan 😅 fair enough but I did want to ask what books/series you did like or would recommend that are of a fantasy/romantasy vibe!

lmfao, i am destined to become known for my parasocial enmity with the wingspan lady on this hellsite.

I don't read stuff with the same vibe as SJM all that often anymore. I used to read a lot of paranormal romance but the heteronormativity of SJM clones was upsetting me, so I've turned more towards the romance genre or just straight up fanfic these days.

So these recommendations might not be the perfect overlap but-!

Books with Fey Romances that are good

Holly Black, for all your fey needs. Tithe is the OG (and if you like sad men with white hair, have I got a blorbo for you!) but The Cruel Prince is her most popular series, that most people have read. The Darkest Part of the Forest is also an amazing standalone novel with a bit more creepiness than the other two. Not very explicit sex.

Olivia Atwater's Half A Soul and Ten Thousand Stitches are regency romance novels with fey associations, the first book is about a girl under a fairy curse and the second is about a fairy himbo trying his best at being a fairy godmother. No sex, that I can remember.

Heather Fawcett's Emily Wilde's Encyclopedia of Fairies. I've talked about this book a lot. If you like my fanfic, you will like this book, because this book was written for Me specifically. Not very explicit sex.

The Falconer series by Elizabeth May. This is the closest in this list to what SJM writes, only this is. um. better. Much sex, but also just... 'what if we started an apocalypse together, and the guilt meant I was scared to touch you, but we've got nothing else to live for now so why shouldn't I just do it?'

Fantasy Books with Good Romance

T Kingfisher's Swordheart and Nettle & Bone - both standalone novels. Swordheart is just Howl x Sophie dynamics, if Howl was a martial class, and also. A sword. Some sexiness.

Uprooted by Naomi Novik (if we count the love interests as both the hot sexy wizard man AND the protagonist's gal pal). Some sexiness.

Gods of Jade and Shadow by Silvia Moreno-Garcia. If you like your immortal/mortal romances, this is a pretty stellar read tbh. Some sexiness.

In Other Lands by Sarah Rees Brennan. This is such a fun book just generally but the slowburn of a 7 year high school romance sent me a little feral actually. Some sexiness.

Daevabad trilogy by S.A. Chakraborty. Now, this one is a little bit evil bc its an epic fantasy trilogy that is quite dense, and the romance is amazing but it takes a WHILE. *I* can write an evil slowburn, but there is nothing more evil than what happened in these books bc everyone is so fucking repressed. Alternatively, The Adventures of Amina Al-Sirafi by the same author, which cut to the chase a lot quicker, romance-wise.

Fantasy Books that are 😌😌 sexy 😌😌

The Dark Days Club by Alison Goodman. This is my favourite paranormal romance I've read in recent years, and they don't even have sex but I'm putting it here because um. they did. to me. That's what happens when you write a regency romance where if a woman takes of a man's coat they have 37 horny thoughts about it in real time. Imagine if Darcy and Elizabeth for P&P were also fighting demons at the same time as falling in love (not metaphorically. literal demons.)

Mating the Huntress by Talia Hibbert. Talia Hibbert's books in general fucking slap but I wish she'd written more paranormal romance than just this ONE story bc um. This was. um. Good.✌️

A Marvellous Light and A Restless Truth by Freya Marske. Freya Marske is also a popular fanfic author, and it shows with the way she writes sex.

That Time I Got Drunk and Saved a Demon by Kimberly Lemming. This author is the one who went briefly viral bc she accidentally has a book cover with Astarion on it lmao. This book was the first in that series, and unfortunately it wasn't for me (dragon shifter porn, I did *not* know going in) but the sex was really, really well-written, if that's something you could be into.

[howlsmovinglibrary]

Hello, I hope you are having wonderful day! Do you have an romantic sideplot book recommendations of any genre? Thank you so much!!

hey anon! I'm having a sleepy day bc I had to get up early for a work thing, otherwise doing ok!

books w. good romantic sideplots but where romance isn't the 'focus'

The biggest one for me is the Daevabad trilogy by SA Chakraborty. This is an epic fantasy trilogy and romance is a large part of the plot, but the ENDGAME romance is a slowburn of frankly epic proportions. These books are amazing but I can't usually recommend them in good conscience as 'romance' bc of the slowburn. BUT WHAT IF THE SLOWBURN WAS EVERYTHING ACTUALLY. WHAT IF THEY INVENTED ROMANCE.

The Unspoken Name and The Thousand Eyes by AK Larkwood - this fantasy book series has several romances (including some very fun and cool toxic old man yaoi) but the duology as a whole focused more on the dynamic of the found family unit.

The Dark Days Club by Alison Goodman is a regency era urban fantasy about demon hunters, with a heavy romantic sideplot but again, one that takes several books to develop. so worth it though, the bit where she removes his coat in book 2 is seared on my brain forever more.

Nice Dragons Finish Last by Rachel Aaron is a self-published urban fantasy series about a dragon who is a nice guy when all of his family are court intrigue experts. There are several romances but honestly I'm mostly in it for the 'sunshine with a heart of gold wins' plotline of watching someone kind succeed.

The Winter Duke by Claire Eliza Bartlett is another court intrigue story, similar to the Goblin Emperor, where simply a nice person who wasn't expecting the throne suddenly gets the throne. But she also gets a hot girlfriend. 10 out of 10 content.

Nettle and Bone by T Kingfisher - most Kingfisher books have some degree of romance and if you like stoic men/himbos this is the author for you! but Nettle and Bone is my favourite book of hers for plot before romance (Swordheart is romance before plot)

Scott Westerfeld's Uglies series is a YA sci-fi series but the shenanigans that are happening would today be read as the polycule blueprint. Everyone is in love with everyone that's why it's so messy.

Among Others by Jo Walton is one of my favourite books, it's essentially a coming of age fantasy novel in which you read a girl's diary and that girl also happens to be magic. but she also... goes to a bookclub. And meets a guy. It's just a really good book honestly.

Eliza and Her Monsters by Francesca Zappia is a YA romance-ish book about a webtoon artist and the boy who is her biggest fan on her fandom server. He moves to her school and they become pals, before her identity as the webtoon author is revealed!

Oh! and literally anything by Tamora Pierce!!!

[bookclub4m]

Episode 201 - Weird West

 It’s episode 201 and time for us to discuss the genre of Weird West! (Just in time for Halloween!). We talk about the potential temporal and geographic restrictions on western fiction, folklore, tall tales, and more!

You can download the podcast directly, find it on Libsyn, or get it through Apple Podcasts or your favourite podcast delivery system.

In this episode

Anna Ferri | Meghan Whyte | Matthew Murray 🦇 | Jam Edwards

Things We Read (or tried to…)

Red Rabbit by Alex Grecian, narrated by John Pirhalla

The Gunslinger by Stephen King, narrated by George Guidall

Tread of Angels by Rebecca Roanhorse

The Sixth Gun Omnibus, vol. 1 by Cullen Bunn, Brian Hurtt, Bill Crabtree, and Tyler Crook

The Witch Owl Parliament by David Bowles and Raúl the Third

Lone Women by Victor LaValle

River of Teeth by Sarah Gailey

Other Media We Mentioned

Vermilion: The Adventures of Lou Merriwether, Psychopomp and Molly Tanzer

The New Adventures of the Lone Ranger (Probably the version Matthew saw)

Lucky Luke

The Shootist by Glendon Swarthout

The Ballad of Black Tom by Victor LaValle

Links, Articles, and Things

Episode 029 - Westerns

Episode 082 - Steampunk

Episode 106 - Alternative/Alternate History

Episode 183 - One Book One Podcast: Upright Women Wanted

Space Western (TVTropes)

Skin-walker

Land-grant university

Map shows where Colorado’s 8 known free-roaming wolves wandered in September

Libro.fm’s Audiobook Listening Copy Program

Jonah Hex

10 Weird Western Books by BIPOC Authors

Every month Book Club for Masochists: A Readers’ Advisory Podcasts chooses a genre at random and we read and discuss books from that genre. We also put together book lists for each episode/genre that feature works by BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, & People of Colour) authors. All of the lists can be found here.

The Witch Owl Parliament by David Bowles and Raúl the Third

Vampires of El Norte by Isabel Cañas

The Good Luck Girls by Charlotte Nicole Davis

Deathless Divide by Justina Ireland

The Buffalo Hunter Hunter by Stephen Graham Jones (forthcoming 2025)

Sisters of the Wild Sage: A Weird Western Collection by Nicole Givens Kurtz

Lone Women by Victor Lavalle

The Thousand Crimes of Ming Tsu by Tom Lin

Tread of Angels by Rebecca Roanhorse

How Much of These Hills Is Gold by C Pam Zhang

Give us feedback!

Fill out the form to ask for a recommendation or suggest a genre or title for us to read!

Check out our Tumblr, follow us on Instagram, join our Facebook Group or Discord Server, or send us an email!

Join us again on Tuesday, October 15th when it’s time for our “We All Read the Same Book” episode as we discuss A Wizard’s Guide to Defensive Baking by T. Kingfisher.

Then on Tuesday, November 5th we’ll be discussing the genre of Dark Academia.

[theladyragnell]

Saw a book today called The Girls at the Kingfisher Club today that's a retelling of the Twelve Dancing Princesses but at a jazz era speakeasy. No idea how it is but you're my default person I think of when I think of that fairy tale so I thought you should at least know about it if you didn't already!

I read and enjoyed that one very much! I am always delighted to be associated with this fairy tale, though, and I should give that one a reread at some point.

(Man, have there been any new books based on this tale out in the last couple of years? I don't think I've seen any, I really wish it were one of the Perennially Adapted Tales.)

[daisyishedwig]

So my plan was originally to do these recaps every month, but that didn't happen. So instead, here's a reading recap for the first 6 months of 2024 in which I read 99 books, a concept that is still insane to me considering my goal for the year was 50. Pictured are my highlights, the god-tier books that left me screaming or the ones that I left feeling like a new person.

And here is the full list of everything I've read so far this year. (Bolded are the books pictured and italicised are books reread)

January My Dear Henry by Kalynn Bayron 4/5 The Seven Husband of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid 5/5 Padawan by Kiersten White 5/5 Dark Heir by C.S. Pacat 5/5 You’re Not Supposed to Die Tonight by Kalynn Bayron 3/5 The Only Good Indians by Stephen Graham Jones 5/5 Teach the Torches to Burn by Caleb Roehrig 5/5 The Star Host Trilogy by F.T. Lukens 5/5 Most Ardently by Gabe Cole Novoa 4/5 Harley Quinn: Die Laughing by Jimmy Palmiotti, Amanda Conner 3/5 Coffee Boy by Austin Chant 5/5 Star Wars: Vader: Dark Visions by Dennis Hopeless 3/5 Caroline’s Heart by Austin Chant 5/5 Stranger Things: Flight of Icarus by Caitlin Schneiderhan 2/5

February Self-Made Boys by Anna-Marie McLemore 5/5 Pretty Boy by Jett Masterson 1/5 The Prince’s Dearest Guards by Beau Van Dalen 3/5 The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab 5/5 A House Unsettled by Trynne Delaney 3/5 Bunt! Striking Out on Financial Aid by Ngozi Ukazu 5/5 The Chalice of the Gods by Rick Riordan 4/5

March  By Any Other Name by Erin Cotter 5/5 From Here to Eternity: Travelling the World to Find the Good Death by Caitlin Doughty 4/5 Family Business by Jonathan Sims 5/5 Hook's Tale: Being the Account of an Unjustly Villainized Pirate Written by Himself by John Leonard Pielmeier 4/5 Mapping the Interior by Stephen Graham Jones 4/5 Ouran High School Host Club by Bisco Hatori 5/5 Peter Darling by Austin Chant 5/5 Night of the Mannequins by Stephen Graham Jones 3/5 Darling by K. Ancrum 5/5

April The Candy Shop War by Brandon Mull 2/5 A Worthy Opponent by Katee Robert 5/5 Circe by Madeline Miller 4/5 The Never King by Nikki St. Crowe 4/5 Ben and Beatriz by Katalina Gamarra 5/5 Hide: The Graphic Novel by Kiersten White 3/5 The Darcy Myth: Jane Austen, Literary Heartthrobs, and the Monsters They Taught Us to Love by Rachel Feder 4/5 The Dark One by Nikki St. Crowe 4/5 Their Vicious Darling by Nikki St. Crowe 4/5 Ledfeather by Stephen Graham Jones 5/5 The Fae Princes by Nikki St. Crowe 4/5

May  Black Butler by Yana Toboso 4/5 The 2000s Made Me Gay: Essays on Pop Culture by Grace Perry 4/5 Pan by Christopher Ruz 3/5 Devourer of Men by Nikki St. Crowe 3/5 The Promised Neverland by Kaiu Shirai and Posuka Demizu 4/5 A Sea of Unfortunate Sould by Jay R. Wolf 3/5 Someone You Can Build A Nest In by John Wiswell 4/5

June The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan 5/5 Red Rising by Pierce Brown 4/5 Neon Gods by Katee Robert 5/5 The Girl From the Well by Rin Chupeco 5/5 The Sea of Monsters by Rick Riordan 4/5 What Moves the Dead by T. Kingfisher 4/5 The Titan’s Curse by Rick Riordan 5/5 Hooked by Emily Mcintire 4/5 Anger is a Gift by Mark Oshiro 5/5 A Spindle Splintered by Alix E. Harrow 5/5 A Thief in the Night by KJ Charles 5/5 How To Bite Your Neighbor and Win A Wager by D.N. Bryn 5/5 His First Bite by D.N. Bryn 5/5 The Lost Boy by Joshua Grant 3/5 Tink and Wendy by Kelly Ann Jacobson 3/5 The Wicker King by K. Ancrum 5/5 Epically Earnest by Molly Horan 4/5 Otherworldly by F.T. Lukens 5/5 White Smoke by Tiffany D. Jackson 5/5 Dark Heir by C.S. Pacat 5/5 A Mirror Mended by Alix E. Harrow 5/5 Peter Pan in Scarlet by Geraldine McCaughrean 5/5 Night of the Living Queers: A Queer Horror Anthology 4/5

[micamicster]

please do share how you'd adapt the book/s you're thinking of 🙏

Anon you’re an angel for indulging my nonsense 😘

Ok so I’m going to talk about the adaptation I’ve planned for the excellent but not very widely read book The Girls at the Kingfisher Club by Genevieve Valentine! There will be some spoilers for the book but I’ll try to avoid giving so many that the book would be ruined, because it is a very satisfying read for anyone who loves sisters and jazz age new york 💜

The Girls at the Kingfisher Club is a retelling of the fairytale the 12 dancing princesses, set in 1920s nyc. It’s about sisters who sneak out at night under the nose of their tyrannical father to tear up the dance floor as some of the most notorious flappers in prohibition new york. But their father is growning suspicious, and the older sisters are only too aware that their precarious double life has a time limit on it.

Part of why I think this would make an excellent tv show is the setting—what an opportunity! You could do so much with the dance scenes, which are so crucial to the book, and which deserve to be brought to life in all their dazzle and chaos. And the music! Jazz music!! I’d hope for something as rich and gorgeous and overall stylistically similar to Babylon Berlin. Something that conveys both the danger of this criminal underworld and the freedom the girls find in it.

I also think a tv show (with the benefit of actors interpretations) could flesh out some of the more minor sisters more than the book gets a chance to. Very interesting bones exist for all of the girls, and it would be a wonderful opportunity to see a lot of interesting, complicated, and very different women on screen. And all their relationships with each other are so rich! Would love to see actors develop these more :)

If I was writing the show, I’d probably choose to have each episode follow a specific sister. Unreliable competing narration is the way to go with an ensemble cast of siblings, even if it’s just about who stole whose perfume <3 I would also do it lovesick style, with a past and a present storyline in each episode, with storylines gradually converging on the dinner party (people who’ve read the book know which dinner I mean!). I would open the show with Jo, the oldest, introducing her rules, and then work my way through some of the other sisters before returning to her in a more honest way.

The joy of having so many characters in big group scenes at the clubs, all of whom are keeping secrets from each other, is that you can easily seed the other girls stories (and romances) into the background of their sisters episodes! For example, when Tom finally shows up, the audience should realize they recognize him as someone who’s been dancing with Jo in past flashbacks. Season 1 ends with them running, season 2 finishes up the book, potential for season 3 to follow some bootlegging adventures?

[hidekomoon]

i started reading the girls at the kingfisher club!!

[the-forest-library]

June 2023 Reads

Return of the Thief - Megan Whalen Turner

Moira’s Pen - Megan Whalen Turner

Once More With Feeling - Elissa Susan

Cassandra in Reverse - Holly Smale

Ciao for Now - Kate Bromley

The Happy Life of Isadora Bentley - Courtney Walsh

Same Time Next Summer - Annabel Monaghan

Meet You in the Middle - Devon Daniels

Not Here to Stay Friends - Kaitlyn Hill

What Happens After Midnight - K.L. Walther

The Wishing Game - Meg Shaffer

Some Shall Break - Ellie Marney

Bryony and Roses - T. Kingfisher

As Old As Time - Liz Braswell

Such Sharp Teeth - Rachel Harrison

Jasmine Zumideh Needs a Win - Susan Azim Boyer

Yellowface - R.F. Kuang

Charlotte Illes is Not a Detective - Katie Siegel

Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret - Judy Blume

The Princess and the Grilled Cheese Sandwich - Deya Muniz

She-Hulk, Vol 2: Jen of Hearts - Rainbow Rowell

Happily Ever After - Debbie Tung

Book Love - Debbie Tung

The Worrier’s Guide to Life - Gemma Correll

Cryptid Club - Sarah Andersen

Escargot - Dashiki Slater

Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs - Judi Barrett & Ron Barrett

Hooked - Sutton Foster

Better Living Through Birding - Christian Cooper

Have More Fun - Mandy Arioto

Notes from a Public Typewriter - Michael Gustafson

These Precious Days - Ann Patchett

It Was An Ugly Couch Anyway - Elizabeth Passarella

Dear Girls - Ali Wong 

Where to Start - Mental Health America

The Vegan Week - Gena Hamshaw

Bold = Highly Recommend Italics = Worth It Crossed out = Nope

Thoughts:

I am now in a world with no more Queen’s Thief books to look forward to, but what a marvelous ride it was. This is now one of my favorite series, and I eagerly look forward to whatever Megan Whalen Turner does next. 

Also, I didn’t mean to read two beauty and the beast retellings back-to-back, but it was fun to compare them. The highlight was T. Kingfisher’s Bryony and Roses, which was absolutely lovely. 

Goodreads Goal: 210/400

2017 Reads | 2018 Reads | 2019 Reads | 2020 Reads | 2021 Reads|

2022 Reads | 2023 Reads

[doumekiss]

My Personal Favorites of 2023

Books - Fiction 

Children of Time Series (Adrian Tchaikovsky) 

Penric & Desdemona Series (Lois McMaster Bujold) 

Teixcalaan Series (Arkady Martine) 

Kitchen (Banana Yoshimoto) 

The Master and Margarita (Mikhail Bulgakov) 

Homegoing (Yaa Gyasi) 

One Day All This Will Be Yours (Adrian Tchaikovsky)

Shards of Honor (Lois McMaster Bujold) 

Elder Race (Adrian Tchaikovsky) 

Bryony and Roses (T. Kingfisher)

Ogres (Adrian Tchaikovsky) 

The Blue Castle (L. M. Montgomery)

Bambi (Felix Selten) 

System Collapse (Martha Wells) 

Lost in The Moment and Found (Seanan McGuire) 

Books - Non-fiction 

Economics: The User’s Guide (Ha-Joon Chang)

Animals Make Us Human (Temple Grandin) 

Shockaholic (Carrie Fisher)

Yours Cruelly (Cassandra Peterson) 

The Autistic Brain (Temple Grandin) 

The Hot Zone (Richard Preston) 

Love, Lucy (Lucille Ball) 

Furious Love (Sam Kashner and Nancy Schoenberger)

Spare (Prince Harry) 

Cinema Speculation (Quentin Tarantino) 

Immune (Phillip Dettmer)

Bad Girls (Camila Sosa Villada)

The Exquisite Machine (Sian E. Harding)

My Girls (Todd Fisher)

The Future of Geography (Tim Marshall) 

Comics/Manga/Manhwa 

Dungeon Meshi 

Sousou no Frieren 

Uzumaki 

Asadora 

The Apothecary Diaries 

Snow, Glass, Apples

Bokura no Shokutaku 

She Loves to Eat, She Loves to Cook 

What Happens When The Third Wheel Goes on Strike

Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint 

Semantic Error

Junji Ito’s Cat Diary: Yon and Mu 

Are you my Mother? 

What did you eat yesterday? 

Oshi Ga Budoukan Ittekuretara Shinu

Movies 

Dog Day Afternoon 

The Three Faces of Eve 

The Lion in Winter 

Pride

Leave her to Heaven 

Ladyhawke 

Catherine Called Birdy 

Kiss of The Spider Woman 

God’s Own Country 

The Crying Game 

A Knight’s Tale 

The Company of Wolves

Dungeons and Dragons : Honor Among Thieves 

The Joy Luck Club 

Bottoms 

Tv Shows (Liveaction)

Yellowjackets - S02 

Bokura no Shokutaku - S01 

This Country - S01-S03

She Loves to Cook, She Loves to eat - S01

What we do in the shadows - S05 

Peacemaker - S01

Oshi Ga Budoukan Ittekuretara Shinu - S01

Taskmaster AU - S01 

Class of ‘07 - S01 

Good Omens - S02 

Barry - S04

Succession - S04 

Ghosts US - S02

From - S01-02 

Our Flag Means Death - S02 

Tv Shows (Animation)

Star Trek: Lower Decks - S01-S04

The Apothecary Diaries - S01 

Fionna and Cake - S01 

Sousou no Frieren - S01 

Oshi no Ko - S01 

My Adventures with Superman - S01 

Solar Opposites - S04 

Kaguya Sama : Love is War - S01-02 

Undone - S01-S02 

Bob’s Burgers - S13-S14 

Skip to Loafer - S01 

My New Boss is Goofy - S01

Tondemo Skill - S01 

The Great North - S03 

Futurama - S11 

2022

[thebrandywine]

10 favorite female characters!

was tagged by @goodpointsandbadpoints (tumblr let ne tag nini challenge 2024)

I tag @fonulyn @flurrin and whoever else wants in :]

[redheadgleek]

August books

​I finished a bunch of books that I had started some months ago and had put aside for one reason or another.

-The Will of the Many by James Islington. Excellent world building and an interesting magical premise. I didn’t understand the ending at all.

-Exit Strategy by Martha Wells (Murderbot #4), audiobook. Listened to this one on a trip to the beach. Ah, Murderbot and its feelings.

-Possession by A.S. Byatt. Took me over 2 months to read this one. There were parts I enjoyed and then other parts that were slogs. I didn’t really like either of the main couples.

-A Sorceress Comes to Call by T. Kingfisher. The Goose Girl is a favorite fairy tale and TK definitely increased the creepiness factor here. The horse will give me nightmares for weeks.

-The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman. Lots of fun characters and twists.

-The Year Without Sunshine by Naomi Kritzer. A post on Tumblr recommended her short stories as dystopias with hope and community, well worth it to track them down.

-Compulsory by Martha Wells. Before going on to the next book in the series I tracked down some of the short stories in the verse. I like early Murderbot where it’s figuring out its morals.

-Home by Martha Wells. Another short story this one from Mensha’s perspective.

-The Invisible Life of Addie Larue by Victoria Schwab. I really loved this book and I loved the ending.

-Any Way the Wind Blows by Rainbow Rowell, audiobook. There were definitely flaws to this last book. The motivations of the villain character were never fully fleshed out and I really missed the Trio’s friendship.

-A Walk in the Wooda by Bill Bryson. I started reading A Short History About Nearly Everything which was great for a couple of chapters and then got boring. This was much funnier and more engaging, but holy hell fatphobia.

-A Darker Shade of Magic by Victoria Schwab. Again, excellent world building and fascinating magic world. There’s another two books in the aeries that I hope to read soon.

-Wintering: The Power of Rest and Retreat in Difficult Times by Katherine May. I started reading this back in February while I was also reading Rest is Resistance and I just wasn’t feeling it. It resonated more now and I thought it was a lovely book about allowing yourself to experience the hard times.

Currently reading: The Warmth of Other Suns by Isabel Wilkinson, Better Living Through Birding by Christian Cooper (audiobook), Network Effect (audiobook).