#things i read

[jbbartram-illu]

After failing to do so for the last two years, I’ve gone through my books-read for the year & compiled a list of my favourite reads!

While doing this I also discovered that I’d missed putting four entire books on my master list that all should have been in my best-of list, so here’s the final top 22 (in no particular order)…

Matrix - Lauren Groff

My Dark Vanessa - Kate Elizabeth Russell

Echo - Thomas Olde Heuvelt

The Kingdoms - Natasha Pulley

The Waiting - Keum Suk Gendry-Kim

Nightbitch - Rachel Yoder

The Glass Hotel - Emily St John Mandel

These Ghosts Are Family - Maisy Card

Greenwood - Michael Christie

Ghost Wall - Sarah Moss

A Master of Djinn - P. Djèli Clark

What is Home, Mum? - Sabba Khan

The Women of Troy - Pat Barker

The Inheritance of Orquídea Divina - Zoraida Córdova

Fevered Star - Rebecca Roanhorse

Blackfish City - Sam J. Miller

Just Like Home - Sarah Gailey

The Book of Form & Emptiness - Ruth Ozeki

A Prayer for the Crown-Shy - Becky Chambers

The Galaxy, And the Ground Within - Becky Chambers

Stormsong - C.L. Polk

Soulstar - C.L. Polk

If you want to look at all the books I read/re-read this year, you can see my entire messy googledoc list here!

Turns out that being absolutely terrible at managing a library holds list + feeling obliged to finish almost all the books I take out = reading the most I've ever read in a year (Total was also helped by a visit to the used bookstore in the town closest to my cottage + buying a huge stack of British mystery novels to devour during my time up north)??

Also, I'm always looking for book recommendations! What were your favourite reads of 2022? Are there exciting books you know are coming out in 2023/any books that you've got on your list for the new year (new or old pubs)? Please tell me them!!

*illustration at the top there is by me, from the book that I finished illustrating back in the summer...hopefully I'll have an idea of when that's coming out soon!

[lordrawrxe]

A couple of things I've read in the recent past and liked

Books

Girl In White Cotton by Avni Doshi

Still Born by Guadalupe Nettle

Simple Passion by Annie Ernoux

Books Currently Reading

The Lonely City by Olivia Laing (yes @ijaazat's reccs)

Decolonising the Mind by Ngugi Wa Thiong'o

On Photography by Susan Sontag

The Idea of Justice by Amartya Sen

The Truce by Primo Levi

Articles and Essays

The Myth of Objective Data by Melanie Feinberg

Guardian's amazing graph on the Boris Johnson scandal

On Capitalism and marriage and other such things by Daniel Tutt

[solidrain]

favorite things i read - february and march 2023

short stories:

“Calf Cleaving in the Benthic Black” by Isabel J. Kim - incredibly haunting and descriptive story about two space scavengers coming across a cryogenically frozen child and a moral conundrum

“What Has Passed Shall in Kinder Light Appear” by Baoshu, translated by Ken Liu (from Broken Stars) - such an interesting and fresh premise if you have even a decent knowledge of modern chinese history, explores the nature of time and history

“The Brain Box” by Regina Kanyu Wang, translated by Ken Liu (from Broken Stars) - a sharp and incisive story about the narratives we tell ourselves about our own identities and relationships explored through maybe the creepiest surveillance technology imaginable

“You’ll Understand When You’re a Mom Someday” by Isabel J. Kim - a possibly demonic creature possesses a woman’s body and navigates the trials and tribulations of marriage, motherhood, and contract law

“Bloodchild” by Octavia Butler (from Bloodchild and Other Stories) - this one is probably a classic of science fiction at this point, but here i am as another person to reiterate that this is very well-crafted and intriguing

essays:

“The Idea of Children” by Madeline Lane-McKinley - a critical analysis of the political position of the child

“Book of Lamentations” by Sam Kriss - a satirical review of the DSM-5 as if it were a dystopian novel

books:

Earthlings by Sayaka Murata - very dark and graphic in some parts, but i really liked it. the narrative really pushes the protagonist to the edge of what a reader may find sympathetic, but it’s an incredibly well-crafted journey from childhood abuse and trauma to alienation in modern society to the gruesome end. lots of content warnings for abuse, rape, incest, murder, and cannibalism.

combining february and march cuz uh i can’t believe it’s already april?? anyways, lots of short stories read (although i think i’m gonna take a break from reading short fiction for a while) and a few books, of which earthlings was the only one i really liked. gonna try to pick up some more novels and poetry in the coming months.

[outside-cry]

📖 The Scum Villain’s Self-Saving System, Volumes 2, 3, & 4; 🖋 Mo Xiang Tong Xiu

Vol. 2 finished 10/25/22, Vol. 3 finished 11/9/22, Vol. 4 finished 12/1/22

📔: Putting the rest of the series in one post because I honestly don’t remember what happens in which book, and really, I don’t need to make three separate posts for this truly insane series ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 

Luo Binghe and Shen Qingqiu are the definition of you two really deserve each other (derogatory). I don’t even know how to give a good summary for this series msjbdhsjdn 

Sad skillful little orphan boy Luo Binghe who is on the trajectory to be hot boy stallion novel protagonist with like 18 wives and a bad temper, gets teacher-addled when Shen Qingqiu does all he can to not be the scum villain of the novel so he doesn’t die horribly. So then, obviously, Luo Binghe grows up not to be the hunky husband of a harem, but a hunky So Very Gay boy in love with Shen Qingqiu. Shen Qingqiu is oblivious to all of these proceedings. 

We have demon worlds opening, hot lesbian girl demons, lotssssss of clothes ripping, Luo Binghe torturing nations for the chance at pinning down Shen Qingqiu in a water prison. 

The sex scenes in the third and fourth book did take 10-12 year off of my life. The first time they fuck, without spoiling anything I will just tell you it is bat shit off the walls ….. in the last book there is boofing of magic sex wine and that’s NOT the most insane sex scene, if that tells you anything. 

Thank you MXTX you are so terrifying to my brain. Also grateful to all the girlies writing fanfic for bingqiu that is just as off the walls as this canon. I will definitely miss this series but probably good for my mental health that I’ve finished it lol

[inkskinned]

please i love you i'm begging you bring back suspension of disbelief bring back trusting the audience like. i cannot handle any more dialogue that sounds like a legal document. "hello, i am here to talk to you about the incident from a few minutes ago, because i feel you might be unwell, and i am invested in your personal wellbeing." "thank you, i am unwell because the incident was hurtful to me due to my childhood, which was bad." I CANT!!!!

do you know how many people are mad that authors use "growled" as a word for "said"? it's just poetics! they do not literally mean "growled," it's just a common replacement for "said with force but in a low tone." it's normal! do you hear me!! help me i love you please let me out of here!!!

[spitblaze]

[guy who doesnt watch shows voice] yeah ive been meaning to watch that show

[moodsandtenses]

There's something hilarious about how so much subsequent media has positioned Vampires and Werewolves as, like, binary opposite entities, and then you read Dracula (1897) and realize that wolves are that guy's preferred solution to every problem. You'd say something to Dracula about "ah yes, werewolves, vampires' great eternal enemies," and he'd just be like "you mean my subcontractors?"

[willgrahamscock]

my favorite customer service slip ups

[yeah-yeah-beebiss-1]

in case you were wondering how things went down at the pokemon world championships this weekend:

-during the top 8 of the TCG masters division, chilean player fernando cifuentes was running a gimmick deck that consisted exclusively of four iron thorns ex and a whole ton of control-focused trainer cards in a strategy that either completely shuts down opponents or shits the bed entirely

-through skillful play and some good luck, fernando made it through 2 days in a tournament with over 1100 players to get to the quarterfinals

-fernando lost 2-0 to ian robb, who was running regidrago vstar (widely considered one of the best decks in the current format)

-in an overexuberant victory celebration, ian did what can only be described as a jacking-off gesture, on a stream with tens of thousands of viewers run by a company with very firm player conduct expectations

-the judges determined that this warranted a penalty of game loss, but for some reason, rather than applying it to ian’s next game in the semifinals, they applied it to the one he had just won in the top 8

-(it should be noted that the prize money for making top 8 is $15k while top 4 is $20k, so this jerking gesture cost ian robb $5,000)

-nearly an hour after fernando came to terms with his loss and the end of an impressive run, he was told that he was to get back on stream because he’s now playing in the semifinals due to winning by default

-the player he was up against in the semifinals was playing a deck (miraidon) that happens to get shut down hard by iron thorns’s gimmick, so fernando wins the semifinals

-said player, jesse parker, had notably had an undefeated run throughout the whole tournament up to this point, and likely would have continued that streak had his intended semifinal opponent not gotten a game loss penalty for miming a lewd act on stream

-meanwhile, the other semifinal winner is japan’s seinosuke shiokawa, running a deck (roaring moon) that players had largely written off as underwhelming months ago

-the grand finals are on the following day, so saturday evening was abuzz with a lot of people baffled by the absurdity of the situation

-come sunday afternoon, the grand finals are set to begin, with fernando cifuentes running iron thorns and seinosuke shiokawa running roaring moon

-it should be noted here that the roaring moon deck doesn’t rely very much on abilities, so iron thorns’s gimmick has very little effect - this is basically an even matchup

-fernando wins the first game of the set, and seinosuke wins the second

-the third and final game of the set is a bonafide cheek-clencher, with both players reaching a state where a single KO will win the game, but fernando manages to clinch it at the last minute

-and that’s the story of how a guy pretending to jork it led to the first instance of a pokemon world champion who also lost the quarterfinals

[beaft]

google help me

[stil-lindigo]

lead balloon (the tumblr post that saved me)

if this comic resonated with you, it would mean the world to me if you donated to this palestinian family's escape fund.

--

no creative notes because this isn't that kind of comic.

I know I don’t owe any of you anything but I still felt compelled to write about my long term absence. And I feel far enough away from the dangerous spot I was in to be able to make this comic. I have a therapist now, and she agreed that making this could be a very cathartic gesture, and the start of properly leaving these thoughts behind me. I am still, at seemingly random times, blindsided by fleeting desires to kill myself. They’re always passing urges, but it’s disarming, and uncomfortable. I worry sometimes that my brain’s spent so long thinking only about suicide that it’s forgotten how to think about anything else. Like, now that I've opened that door for myself, I'll never be able to fully shut it again. But I’m trying my best to encourage my mind in other directions. We'll see how that goes.

I am still donating all proceeds from my store to Palestinian causes. So far, I've donated over $15K, not including donations coming from my own pocket or the fundraising streams which jointly raised around $10K. In the time since I made my initial post about where this money would be going, the focus has shifted from aid organisations to directly donating to escape funds.

If you'd like to do the same, you can look at Operation Olive Branch, which hosts hundreds of Palestinian escape funds or donate to Safebow, which has helped facilitate the safe crossing and securing of important medical procedures for over 150 at-risk palestinians since the beginning of the genocide.

[bereft-of-frogs]

There’s that post that’s like ‘everyone should get into a tiny niche fandom at least once’ fully agree, that was really fun -- but I would like to add that everyone should get into a fandom where their opinions run counter to major fanon because it really teaches you about sticking to your guns and trusting your interpretation of the text without having to rely on peer validation

because WHAT are people talking about sometimes

[gibbearish]

love when ppl defend the aggressive monetization of the internet with "what, do you just expect it to be free and them not make a profit???" like. yeah that would be really nice actually i would love that:)! thanks for asking

[lolunglunglo]

Con ngựa Bucéphale Không sao dỗ được đứa bé đang khóc, cô bảo mẫu bèn nghĩ tới nhiều nguyên nhân, tính nết của bé, những thứ nó thích hay không thích, rồi viện đến cả di truyền học, nhận ra trong bé tính nết của bố nó. Những thử nghiệm tâm lý học của cô bảo mẫu còn tiếp tục cho tới khi cô ta phát hiện ra một cái kim băng, lý do thật làm cho đứa bé khóc.

Khi người ta đem con ngựa Bucéphale tới chàng Alexandre, không một ky sĩ nào ngồi vững trên lưng con vật đáng gờm này được. Kẻ thô thiển sẽ nói: “Con ngựa này thật là dữ tợn”. Nhưng chàng Alexandre thì đi tìm cái kim băng và chóng tìm thấy. Chàng nhận ra ngựa Bucéphale hoảng sợ trước cái bóng của chính mình. Rồi mỗi khi nó lồng lên sợ hãi thì cái bóng của nó lại chồm lên theo, và tạo thành một cái vòng luẩn quẩn. Thấy vậy, Alexandre hướng Bucéphale về phía mặt trời và cứ giữ yên con ngựa trong vị trí đó, bằng cách này chàng đã trấn an và quy phục được nó. Người học trò của Aristote hiểu rằng ta không có chút quyền lực nào với sự giận dữ một khi ta chưa biết lý do đích thực của nó.

Có người biết phủ nhận nỗi sợ bằng những lý lẽ vững vàng, thế nhưng người đang sợ thì đâu có lắng nghe lý lẽ, anh ta chỉ nghe thấy tim mình đang đập và máu mình đang sôi mà thôi. Kẻ thông thái rỏm suy luận rằng nguy hiểm dẫn đến sự sợ hãi, người bị cảm xúc chế ngự thì cho là sự sợ hãi dẫn đến nguy hiểm. Cả hai đều nghĩ mình có lý, nhưng cả hai đều lầm, kẻ thông thái rỏm lầm tới hai lần vì anh ta bỏ qua nguyên do đích thực của nỗi sợ và không hiểu sự nhầm lẫn của người đầy cảm xúc kia. Một người đang sợ sẽ tự nghĩ ra một mối nguy hiểm nào đó để giải thích cho nỗi sợ rất có thực mà mình cảm thấy. Một cái gì đó bất ngờ có thể làm ta sợ hãi, mặc dù bản thân nó không nguy hiểm, chẳng hạn như một tiếng súng nổ rất gần, hoặc chỉ đơn giản là sự hiện diện của ai đó không trông đợi. Thống chế Masséna đã từng hoảng sợ chỉ vì một pho tượng trong cầu thang tối tăm, để rồi phải ba chân bốn cẩng bỏ chạy.

Đôi khi sự mất kiên nhẫn và tâm trạng khó chịu của một người xuất phát từ chỗ anh ấy phải đứng quá lâu. Xin chớ tranh luận với tâm trạng của anh ấy mà hãy đem đến một chiếc ghế. Khi nói rằng phong cách quyết định mọi thứ, Talleyrand đã biểu đạt được nhiều hơn ông ấy nghĩ. Ông ấy chịu khó đi tìm cái kim băng để không phải tạo ra sự khó chịu cho người khác và rốt cuộc cũng tìm thấy nó.

Các nhà ngoại giao thời nay dường như đều bị một cái kim băng nằm ở đâu đó dưới lớp áo lót làm cho khó chịu, khiến biết bao nhiêu chuyện rắc rối nảy sinh ra ở châu Âu. Ai cũng biết rằng một đứa trẻ khóc sẽ làm cho những đứa trẻ khác khóc theo. Còn tệ hơn nữa, nhiều khi người ta gào lên chỉ để mà gào. Cô bảo mẫu, bằng một động tác chuyên nghiệp, sẽ đặt đứa trẻ nằm sấp xuống, ngay lập tức đứa bé sẽ phản ứng theo một cơ chế khác. Đó chính là nghệ thuật thuyết phục người khác, rất bình dị, của cô bảo mẫu. Tôi cho rằng những thảm họa của năm 1914 xảy ra vì những nhân vật quan trọng bị rơi vào thế bất ngờ, và chính vì vậy mà họ sợ. Một người khi đang sợ thì dễ rơi vào trạng thái giận dữ, sự cáu giận thường đến sau những cơn kích động. Thật không dễ chịu cho ai đó đột nhiên bị quấy rầy khi đang nghỉ ngơi hay tiêu khiển; khi đó, anh ta sẽ rất dễ nổi khùng. Cũng giống như một người bị đánh thức đột ngột khi đang ngủ, anh ta sẽ tỉnh dậy trong cơn hoảng hốt. Đừng vội gọi một người nào đó là kẻ dữ tợn, khoan hẵng gán cho anh ta tính cách đó. Hãy đi tìm cái kim băng trước đã.

Alain nói về hạnh phúc, 8 tháng mười hai 1922

"Hãy đi tìm cái kim băng trước đã" - a reminder for me

[outside-cry]

📖 My Favorite Thing is Monsters, 🖋 Emil Ferris

Finished 10/17/22

📔: Graphic novel that portrays the diary of ten year old Karen Reyes who’s investigating the murder of her neighbor, a beautiful and peculiar woman. Set in socially/politically tumultuous Chicago’s Uptown during the 1960’s, Karen moves about the city, interviewing her neighbors, uncovering intertwined dark histories. 

There is so much in this book!!! Like so much. There’s complicated family trauma, lots of lying and secrets in a futile attempt to protect the people you care about. Lots of dysfunctional grieving, a really heart wrenching subplot of Anka’s childhood in the holocaust. It’s also got a coming of age/coming to terms with being queer for our narrator, Karen. 

As the title suggests, the entire novel deals with the monsters in our world, in our villains, in our loved ones, in ourselves. The illustrations are distinctive, and the prose can hit you like a cartoon anvil. One of my favorite things about the book is that because Karen often visits the Chicago Art Institute, there’s a lot of “notebook sketches” of famous historical art pieces woven into the story. Also loved all of the illustrations of areas in Uptown - where I live!! The Graceland cemetery, the Wilson red line stop (my stop!!), and the distinctly Chicago buildings.

[typewriter-worries]

The New York Times did a piece titled 100 Small Acts of Love and these are some of my favorites 💕