Currently Reading: August 2023

This month has been a little harder for me to read, with a vaguely unplanned visit with family dragging me away from stable internet connection (which I'm actually still currently on). My favorite part of Google Books is that the UI doesn't load without reception, isn't yours? Even with my dubious access to my books, I've been reading some really interesting ones, even if I'm a little worried I won't be able to finish in time! I ended up breaking the start of a good reading streak a few times, which is a little unfortunate, but then I read stretches of books in a short burst, which is … okay, I guess. I think I've made it up a little bit by writing more, at least. And, speaking of writing, I'm excited to write about the books I haven't finished quite yet this month and my thoughts so far!

The Faggots & Their Friends Between Revolutions by Larry Mitchell and illustrated by Ned Asta

🧸 Playful and poignant writing

🧚 Queer solidarity and illustrations

This book is short, but filled with meaning and so much lovely prose. I've only gotten a few pages into the actual book itself, but I really enjoyed reading the essays in the front of the book. In particular, I loved Tourmaline's preface. This book is classed almost as poetry, using a playful style reminiscent of a children's book to emphasize its points. From what I have read, the book can hold its own on more modern issues. I haven't read enough of this to say very much about the actual content, but I do really enjoy the premise, the lyricism, and the history of this book. I also adore Asta's illustrations, I want to get posters of them to hang up in my (dorm) room.

The Ice Princess by Camilla Läckberg and translated by Steven T. Murray

👀 classic whodunit

I had some high(er) hopes for this than have been actualized so far. I picked this up at a thrift store in great condition, and I will say that the cover is very pretty (the text is almost opalescent!), so I was drawn into it. I'm a little over a quarter of the way through it, though, and I haven't really been enjoying it as much as I wanted to. There's a lot of discussion about physical appearance and how attractive or unattractive the character views them, which really made me struggle through some of this. I found that I had to remind myself multiple times that this book was written almost 20 years ago, but some of it is hard to get over.  I've also found that Erica, the main character, is intended to be likeable but is very much not so for me. Läckberg has a style in which a character will find a clue, but the reader is not made privy to it until the dots are connected, which makes it hard to become invested. I think I'll be able to finish it, and maybe the sequel, but I don't think I'd like to read the rest of the series. There's a lot of nuances, in my opinion, about crime fiction as a whole, which is a bit of a separate conversation, but even aside form that I feel like this book has something missing so far.

Providence Girls by Morgan Dante

❤ Romance filled with cosmic horror

🐠 New England seaside and sea monsters

🌎 Fascinating world-building

First things first, I received an eARC of this in exchange for an honest review. I am so glad I ended up receiving a copy of it, though, because I adore the characters and the worldbuilding. I tend to see less sapphic media representations (not that people aren't writing or promoting it, but I see a little less of it in some of the circles I run in both online and in person), so I have had a hard time not tearing through this; Dante takes a slower pace on this, which I sometimes have a hard time with, so I would like to give it some more space to breathe. I've read some of their work before (in Devout — my review goes into detail on all of the pieces including Dante's two short stories), and I have some of their work in my TBR (A Flame in the Night, which isn't included in this post because I technically "started" reading it last month). I know I adore Dante's work, and this isn't an exception. In this, they frame the chapters through characters writing to each other, and I already ache for Azzie and Vin. Dante is a master as making a reader care for their characters in a short amount of time, and can't wait to find out more about these characters and their (hopefully happy) endings.

My Name is Iris by Brando Skyhorse

⌚ Not-so-high tech dystopia using wrist bands

😔 Contemporary issues and reflections on reality

Look, I had to get My Name is Iris. I don't think I have to expand too much upon why, but I can say I love the writing so far. Skyhorse tackles division within the Latine community, the colorism both within and outside of the community, racism, xenophobia, and more. Some might see it as a near-future dystopian, but for many this is a current-future reality, where immigrants and their families face violence, hatred, and uncertainty. I've just gotten past Iris's background, and I can't wait to get into the rest of this story and Skyhorse's writing.

The Eternal Existence of Atticus Bright by Arthur DeHart

⏳ Time-travelling gay people my beloved

I got this book a little on a whim because I wanted to preorder another book from Naked Cat Publishing (Mentally, Midnight by Yuu Ikeda, if you were wondering), and I had been eyeing some of DeHart's work for a while. I cannot emphasize enough how much I am glad that I order this; the prose is stunning and I love the premise already. I think this is a book I might order the physical copy of because it's so impactful. DeHart packs so much character into this book (novella? it sits at a little under 75 pages), and I have to admit that I love Atticus's personality. As soon as this is posted I'll probably finish The Eternal Existence of Atticus Bright up and start writing my review.

Deny Me, the Nightshade Boy by Mary VanAlstine

🧚Faeries and magic (realism)

🌈 Queer fantasy romance

This is the second book I've started reading that's an eARC (also in exchange for an honest review), and I adore this one as well. I really haven't gotten far enough into Deny Me to talk about it, but I love Andrew and the worldbuilding that I've already seen in the first few pages. I'm so glad VanAlstine is making this into a trilogy, because I can tell I'll already want more of these characters — magical realism is a soft spot of mine and their writing is so compelling this book was practically guaranteed to draw me in.