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justabean_reads's reviews
1177 reviews
Shadow Dragon by Lauren Esker
4.0
(Usual disclaimer about the author being a friend.)
It's been forever since this series updated, and it's so nice to have a new book! I also ended up rereading the second half of Tiger in the Hot Zone, since it's been seven years! And I maybe forgot who these people even were. Though I also think it stands alone pretty well, I just wanted to remember what we already knew about the characters.
This is absolutely my favourite series by Esker, and I think there's two main things I like about it that were really highlighted here: a) team as family vibes where someone is isolated because of their own damage, but learning to trust other people and look for comfort from friends is rewarded; b) sensible civilians, where if someone isn't trained to be an action hero, they won't suddenly get action hero skills, but they're also not going to just stand around being helpless while the Hero Saves the Day, and their own non-action-hero skills can have their moment to shine. Here we get Caine who by combination of how his powers work, his backstory and a recent loss tends to be very much a loner, which in the end isn't what saves him, and Gilly, a writer with agoraphobia who isn't going to put up with his shit, and it's just really sweet and fun! Also, and I'm sure I mentioned this with the last book which had a physically disabled heroine, it's really nice to have a romance series that deals with disability as an everyday thing.
More soon! Justice for Matteo! (Costa is also good, looking forward to it, but MATTEO!)
It's been forever since this series updated, and it's so nice to have a new book! I also ended up rereading the second half of Tiger in the Hot Zone, since it's been seven years! And I maybe forgot who these people even were. Though I also think it stands alone pretty well, I just wanted to remember what we already knew about the characters.
This is absolutely my favourite series by Esker, and I think there's two main things I like about it that were really highlighted here: a) team as family vibes where someone is isolated because of their own damage, but learning to trust other people and look for comfort from friends is rewarded; b) sensible civilians, where if someone isn't trained to be an action hero, they won't suddenly get action hero skills, but they're also not going to just stand around being helpless while the Hero Saves the Day, and their own non-action-hero skills can have their moment to shine. Here we get Caine who by combination of how his powers work, his backstory and a recent loss tends to be very much a loner, which in the end isn't what saves him, and Gilly, a writer with agoraphobia who isn't going to put up with his shit, and it's just really sweet and fun! Also, and I'm sure I mentioned this with the last book which had a physically disabled heroine, it's really nice to have a romance series that deals with disability as an everyday thing.
More soon! Justice for Matteo! (Costa is also good, looking forward to it, but MATTEO!)
Recollections of My Nonexistence by Rebecca Solnit
4.5
I started this a couple times over the years, and found the first chapter a little floaty and hard to engage with, but this time I stuck with it, and ended up really enjoying the book as a whole. It's less a memoir in a strictly biographical sense, and more a series of meditations on the forces that shaped Solnit's activism, philosophy, and creative life. I liked how much she talked about community, and support from other artists and thinkers, learning via activism around women's rights, gay rights and environmentalism. The whole it takes a village to build a philosophy view made a lot of sense to me, as did the descriptions of how people's views change and evolve as they themselves do, as the world does.
A lot of the book is about gendered violence and Solnit's growing understanding of feminism, and how the movement has changed since she became involved with it. There are a couple chapters early in I was mentally calling, Dessa's "Fire Drills": The Memoir as they discuss the way the patriarchy chokes out life and shuts down possibilities. It also reminded me of the Marjorie M. Liu comment about how Wonder Woman is difficult to adapt because society cannot contemplate what might be possible or what might be undone if a woman was given the power that men imagine daily for themselves. So much of Solnit's work has been about imagining exactly that, and trying to bring it into the world. And I already don't entirely recognise the society she describes growing up in, even though we're only a generation apart.
A lot of the book is about gendered violence and Solnit's growing understanding of feminism, and how the movement has changed since she became involved with it. There are a couple chapters early in I was mentally calling, Dessa's "Fire Drills": The Memoir as they discuss the way the patriarchy chokes out life and shuts down possibilities. It also reminded me of the Marjorie M. Liu comment about how Wonder Woman is difficult to adapt because society cannot contemplate what might be possible or what might be undone if a woman was given the power that men imagine daily for themselves. So much of Solnit's work has been about imagining exactly that, and trying to bring it into the world. And I already don't entirely recognise the society she describes growing up in, even though we're only a generation apart.
Em by Kim Thúy
3.5
Following the lives of three interconnected Vietnamese children through the war and onto lives outside of Vietnam. This was a lot more war crime centric than Vi, including a graphic description of the Mỹ Lai massacre, which takes up much of the first section of the book, and which I was not expecting going in. (I haven't read Thúy's other books, though I hope to soon, so Vi's going to be my main point of comparison.)
Considering that Thúy's entire output is about the fallout from the Vietnamese-American war, it's no small thing to say I think this deals with it more directly than usual. It's part an exploration of how life and love are possible in even the most horrific and grinding circumstances, but probably more than that a hard-eyed overview of the scope of the war itself, starting with the colonial division of Southeast Asia in the 1800s and going through to the north's victory and a bit of its aftermath in Vietnam (but more so in regards to the fate of the boat people and refugees.) There's a lot of straight up info dumps, but they're less a history lesson, certainly not told in order, than an attempt to include the full context needed to understand what's going on with her characters. As with Vi, Thúy's writing is precise, minimalist, and very beautiful.
Considering that Thúy's entire output is about the fallout from the Vietnamese-American war, it's no small thing to say I think this deals with it more directly than usual. It's part an exploration of how life and love are possible in even the most horrific and grinding circumstances, but probably more than that a hard-eyed overview of the scope of the war itself, starting with the colonial division of Southeast Asia in the 1800s and going through to the north's victory and a bit of its aftermath in Vietnam (but more so in regards to the fate of the boat people and refugees.) There's a lot of straight up info dumps, but they're less a history lesson, certainly not told in order, than an attempt to include the full context needed to understand what's going on with her characters. As with Vi, Thúy's writing is precise, minimalist, and very beautiful.
Two Graves by Genevieve Valentine
2.5
Death and the Maiden go on a road trip. The maiden might also be Death. The big bad might be Persephone. I honestly had no idea what was going on for most of this graphic novel, and even less idea why there kept being three-page prose essays that only tangentially related to the topic, by guest writers like N.K. Jemisin, too! I often love Genevieve Valentine's writing (The Girls at the Kingfisher Club is still heart-stoppingly amazing), but I think this was just a shade too abstract for me to really get into. I could sort of see the themes she was dealing with, and what she was subverting, but to be honest it never really landed for me. I could try reading it again, but have to send it back to the library. Gorgeous art by Wu and Doyle, though!
The Imposition of Unnecessary Obstacles by Malka Ann Older
4.0
More lesbian Sherlock Holmes on Jupiter, though a much lower-key story than the first novel: smaller stakes and fewer attempts to murder the main characters, for example. Really, most of this was an echo or reverberation of the first novel, with the heroine slowly coming to terms with the consequences of what happened, and trying to figure out what to do next, or if she needs to do something different. She's in a new relationship, which given it's the latest try at an old college fling doesn't feel at all secure, while at the same time her career might be either pointless or actively making things worse, which she's not really willing to face as yet. We also see a bit more of the history of the colony on Jupiter, the relationship with the colony on Io, and how dysfunctional the government is. Overall, it's a sombre book, more about slow decay than anything. I appreciated how it kept coming back to the theme of the title: how people set themselves up to fail wanting what might be instead of what is.
Soaring to Glory: A Tuskegee Airman's Firsthand Account of World War II by Philip Handleman
1.5
Oh, boy. It's been a while since I've read a WWII biography written by a white dude historian of a certain age, and I'd forgotten how dreadful the prose tends to be. This one is an absolute standout when it comes to terrible writing! I'm glad it was on audiobook, so I could march forward with it as background noise. Though I didn't ixnay the final chapter, which was Iraq War apologia for some fucking reason, and I have regrets there.
However, I've read enough of these things that I'm resigned to putting up with the writing for the sake of the information presented, and that was pretty good. Handleman alternates historical context chapters with the life of a Black kid from New York who really wants to be a pilot at a time when that was largely a whites-only occupation, and joins the U.S. Army Air Force to get his chance. There's some nice detail around what the training was like, as well as a general history of the Tuskegee Airmen. It covers his war-time service, and his struggles post war (the U.S. Military racially integrating really seems to have ended up with separating a lot of the black servicemen), when the airlines were not hiring non-White pilots. There's also what I felt like was an excessive emphasis on acts of kindness from random white people.
I bought this on sale, and am not sorry to have read it, but I suspect there are better books on the topic.
However, I've read enough of these things that I'm resigned to putting up with the writing for the sake of the information presented, and that was pretty good. Handleman alternates historical context chapters with the life of a Black kid from New York who really wants to be a pilot at a time when that was largely a whites-only occupation, and joins the U.S. Army Air Force to get his chance. There's some nice detail around what the training was like, as well as a general history of the Tuskegee Airmen. It covers his war-time service, and his struggles post war (the U.S. Military racially integrating really seems to have ended up with separating a lot of the black servicemen), when the airlines were not hiring non-White pilots. There's also what I felt like was an excessive emphasis on acts of kindness from random white people.
I bought this on sale, and am not sorry to have read it, but I suspect there are better books on the topic.
The Tusks of Extinction by Ray Nayler
4.0
A novella set in near future Russia, where scientists have resurrected woolly mammoths (why is it never mastodons? Why did I spend so much of grade whatever biology learning the difference if it's never going to be mastodons?) and they're now roaming the steppes. Meanwhile, poachers have hunted wild elephants to extinction, and are setting their sights on the mammoths as a new source of ivory. Our point of view characters are one of the mammoths (formerly a ranger who died trying to save the elephants, consciousness saved and transferred), a teenaged poacher who doesn't want to be on this ride, and the husband of an ultra-rich big game hunter (ditto).
That seems like a lot to jam into a hundred-page novella, but Nayler hits an effective ratio of giving each character their say, keeping the action moving along, and not making things confusing. I liked how the narrative balanced out, and how much we learn about the characters along the way (there's a couple of perfectly-timed revelations that make everything click). There are also a bunch of graphic elephant slaughter details, if that's the sort of thing you do not want to read.
I know Nayler's first book got a fair amount of buzz, and I'll hopefully circle back to it soon.
That seems like a lot to jam into a hundred-page novella, but Nayler hits an effective ratio of giving each character their say, keeping the action moving along, and not making things confusing. I liked how the narrative balanced out, and how much we learn about the characters along the way (there's a couple of perfectly-timed revelations that make everything click). There are also a bunch of graphic elephant slaughter details, if that's the sort of thing you do not want to read.
I know Nayler's first book got a fair amount of buzz, and I'll hopefully circle back to it soon.
Revelations of Divine Love by Julian of Norwich
5.0
Read this slowly over Lent, and really appreciated it. Julian was such a powerful writer, and you can tell how much thought she put into the meaning of her visions. There's quite a lot of graphic Passion details, which I usually don't like, but her descriptions are so grounded and compassionate that it takes the edge off. I really empathised with her spiritual turmoil, and loved how she combined down-to-earth practicality with spiritual yearning. There's a comprehensive introduction and endnotes, which helped a lot with understanding the context of what Julian was saying (citing scripture quotes back, explaining the politics of the time, and why she was so clear about some points that didn't seem related to her visions: not wanting to be executed as a heretic is very motivating, apparently.)
That said, the theology is very dense, and I think I would benefit from both rereading it, possibly multiple times, and reading some interpretations.
That said, the theology is very dense, and I think I would benefit from both rereading it, possibly multiple times, and reading some interpretations.
Portrait of a Body by Julie Delporte
4.0
Another drop-dead gorgeous graphic novel by Drawn & Quarterly. (Seriously, the cover is textured, and I keep petting it.)
Though perhaps graphic novel is not the correct term. It's a written meditation on the author's experience with sexuality, gender and sexual violence, as she came out as a lesbian later in life, or perhaps decided to be a lesbian because the other options were immensely tiresome. This is all illustrated with her drawings of somewhat thematic series of objects, such as vulva-shaped geodes, bits of seaweed, and flowers. (I'm curious if the translators also redid all the lovely looping cursive, or if Delporte redid all that in English once she had the translation.) It's meditative, and rewards reading slowly (and looking up the end notes), and I liked the emphasis on finding solace and self-knowledge in other women.
Though perhaps graphic novel is not the correct term. It's a written meditation on the author's experience with sexuality, gender and sexual violence, as she came out as a lesbian later in life, or perhaps decided to be a lesbian because the other options were immensely tiresome. This is all illustrated with her drawings of somewhat thematic series of objects, such as vulva-shaped geodes, bits of seaweed, and flowers. (I'm curious if the translators also redid all the lovely looping cursive, or if Delporte redid all that in English once she had the translation.) It's meditative, and rewards reading slowly (and looking up the end notes), and I liked the emphasis on finding solace and self-knowledge in other women.
How Far the Light Reaches: A Life in Ten Sea Creatures by Sabrina Imbler
4.0
Autobiography via essays about marine life, which could be a little bit clunky at times, and very insightful at others. I think queer community & selps was a favourite, but the format also grew on me as I got used to what Imbler was doing. I think the strongest line in the whole book was the more implicit comparison of the flaws and oversights in scientific research/assumptions scientists make about their subjects, and both the author's own knowledge gaps, and societal bias at large, for example in researching males of a species as more important than females, and discussions of hybridity. I was fully expecting there to be more "this starfish has fourteen genders so why not humans?" than there was, and Imbler's feelings around gender only come into focus towards the end of the book. Which felt like a bit of a missed opportunity, but it also sounds like Imbler is still coming to terms with the topic, so maybe in a future book. I'll certainly read whatever they do next!