Just finished Her Majesty's Royal Coven and I really loved it. Just the way that queer lives and experiences are so integral to the plot in such an imaginative way. Especially love that it was set in Hebden Bridge. I've not read any of Juno Dawson's work before.
Started Clown In A Cornfield last night... A slasher book should be a dream (it even starts with a horrific accident in the prolouge)
Started Detransition, Baby this week and it’s engaging me much more than anything else I’ve tried to read recently.
Ooo please do share how you find the book. Everyone in our bookclub universally hated it. Great premise but badly executed.
I’m about a third of the way through. Did you think it went off the rails later? Will post something when I’m done.
I just read the excellent Merica’s Take by Daniel Wiles. It’s set in the Black Country in the late 19th century, in a small mining village. I found it raw and vivid, a genuine pleasure to read.
Yeah it’s been a while since I read it, I think years even, but It started strong and I was engaged and loved the premise but it’s dissolved into nothingness for me. But then I’ve spoken to other people who really loved it, so I guess it depends!
I'm starting The Vegetarian by Han Kang, excited to dive in this weekend as Human Acts was excellent.
That's funny. I literally just had my book club yesterday and everyone universally loved it--or, at least, had a lot to say about it. Which to me is a sign that a book did something right. I think it's the kind of novel that can make people feel uncomfortable and have to sit with that discomfort, so it's not going to be for everyone.
I didn't finish Detransition, Baby. There's something about the way it's written that just didn't... click with me. Maybe I'll try again some day. I've been going through some novellas and poetry collections to try and get out of my reading funk (thanks, Hanya!). - Ocean's second collection isn't as good as his first except for the last long poem. - The City Born Great is a good introduction to the whole city thingy Jemisin created, so I'm excited to dive into those. - Into the Riverlands made me want to watch Crouching Tiger, Hero and other wuxia films (which might be a plan for the weekend!). The main character being they/them is a plus! Currently with the first tome of Monk and Robot to see what the fuss is about. The main character also goes by they/them, so I guess that's the flavour of the month.
I’m not someone who usually reads non-fiction, but I randomly decided to pick up The Complete History of Jack the Ripper and…fuck. It’s creeping me out so much. Sugden does a fantastic job of giving only the facts and discounting all the rumours and false information that's become part of the myth over the years. It's an engaging but thoroughly creepy read.
Does anybody have a Kobo device? I am thinking of asking for an e-reader for Christmas but wanted to avoid a kindle/Amazon.
Hallie Rubenhold’s The Five might be a good counterpoint to that too. She uses the limited information about the five victims to investigate working class women’s history from the time. She doesn’t go into the details of the murders as that’s been well covered elsewhere. She’s had a lot of pushback from some of the amateur historians who want to paint all five as “just prostitutes”.
Ooh thanks for the recommendation! Yeah, one thing I liked about Sugden's book is that he really managed to paint the women as real people, using actual historical sources. They're equally victims of their time as they are of the Ripper.
I had mixed feelings about My Year of Rest and Relaxation... I finished it kind of unsure how much I'd enjoyed it. I think the enjoyment came and went and ultimately I felt a bit conned by the way it wrapped up. And then I tore through The Secret History in like six days and actually cried a tear at the last page because I honestly couldn't believe or accept it was over. That's what I read for. What a book. It's funny because both of those are stories about privilege, decay and depression, but only one feels like it exists in some kind of a real world.
Yeah so I finished this last night. Fucking WOW. It might just be my favourite book of the year, it was so raw and unfiltered. I lost track of how many stops I was just so thrown off my everything she was talking about. Major props for her working on herself now but Christ, the journey to get there was intense to read.
