morebedsidebooks's reviews
345 reviews

The Annotated Arabian Nights: Tales from 1001 Nights by Anonymous

4.0

The Annotated Arabian Nights represents a of selection of folktales from what is (without the orientalist moniker) properly titled the One Thousand and One Nights, giving a sample of a newer contemporary translation by Yasmine Seale alongside analysis. 

Although this book does not quite reflect Seale’s thinking on the Nights, her translation is engaging and clear in attention to cadence, rhyme, especially verse, and the voice of Shahrazad. While, like her visual poem “Sleepless” of Shahrazad’s waking eye, illuminating texts for modern audiences and up out of previous liberties taken by many. A labor sure to produce something glorious when that edition arrives in full. In the time being, the Annotated Arabian Nights is an immense book more suited to coffee tables and academic interest.

See an in-depth review on my blog. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Confinement, Kidnapping, Death, Violence, Sexual content, Infidelity, Alcohol, Racism, Sexual assault, Misogyny, Murder, and Torture

Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Pregnancy, Incest, Animal cruelty, Cannibalism, Domestic abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Blood, Miscarriage, Infertility, Animal death, and Antisemitism

Dalila the Crafty includes drugging men and stealing their clothes.

Written In Blood by Caroline Graham

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Emotional abuse, Suicide, Rape, Murder, Infidelity, Stalking, and Classism

Minor: Homophobia, Transphobia, Xenophobia, Misogyny, Death, and Terminal illness

Mentions of child (sexual) abuse and sexual exploitation. Also a character's attitude reflects whorephobia.

Sable Dark by Al Hess

4.0

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Content Warnings

Minor: Drug use and Pedophilia

From the author Content warnings: • blood • coma and hospitalization • abduction and capture • profanity • brief ableism • open door sex and sexual elements • anxiety, panic disorder, paranoia, and hallucinations • alcohol use • mentions of past domestic abuse • several violent scenes including a fist fight • minor surgery/body modification

Mazarin Blues by Alia Hess

3.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Suicide

Minor: Domestic abuse and Ableism

From the author Content Warnings: • blood and on page death • brief biphobia • hospitalization • stalking • profanity • open door sex and sexual elements • anxiety and panic disorder • depression • alcohol use • house fire • brief description of a corpse (main character works in a morgue) • mentions of people (offpage) being coerced into suicide • electrocution • several violent scenes including a fist fight and stabbing

Violent Phenomena: 21 Essays on Translation by Jeremy Tiang, Kavita Bhanot

4.0

Violent Phenomena: 21 essays on Translation is an anthology of writing by 24 contributors featuring a breadth of personal experience with culture, language, translation, publishing, and grappling with colonial and imperial legacies. As the introduction puts it ‘Above all this book is a challenge to inherited assumptions about translators and translations being neutral, making the case that every aspect of translation is political.’ 

If one has an interest in translation and decolonisation pick up this book. 

 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Xenophobia, Colonisation, and Racism

Minor: Islamophobia, Ableism, Pandemic/Epidemic, and Genocide

Also includes references to terrorism.

Let the Right One In by John Ajvide Lindqvist

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Bullying, Injury/Injury detail, Gore, Murder, Blood, and Pedophilia

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Suicide, Alcoholism, Animal death, Car accident, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, and Trafficking

Minor: Racism, Homophobia, Cancer, and Death of parent

Also contains scenes of genital mutilation and substance abuse.

Doctor Who: Planet of Fire by Peter Grimwade

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Fire/Fire injury, and Colonisation

Minor: Confinement, Racial slurs, Child abuse, Death of parent, and War

Zealotry is an important theme. Religious frictions run high and the text is full of religious references.

All The Hidden Paths by Foz Meadows

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Blood, and Violence

Moderate: Murder, Alcohol, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Cursing, Homophobia, Sexual content, Sexual assault, and Suicide

Minor: Animal death, Domestic abuse, Classism, and Sexism

Also contains depictions of PTSD, blackmail, and drugging From the author: Contains instances of dubious consent and under-negotiated kink

My Cat Yugoslavia by Pajtim Statovci

3.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal death, Homophobia, War, Islamophobia, Racism, Bullying, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Child abuse, and Domestic abuse

Minor: Suicide, Sexual content, Hate crime, and Death of parent

Lalana by Michèle Rakotoson

4.0

My favourite of Rakotoson’s oeuvre is the 2002 novel Lalana about the last journey of Rivo who is dying of AIDS. As Rivo takes a road trip with his friend Naivo to see the ocean readers also travel the landscape of Madagascar and a cathartic meditation on death. 

See an in-depth review on my blog.