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Category: Media Monday

Media Monday: What if cryptids were real?

The books: Lorestalker series (1-5) by J.P. Barnett

The music: “Godzilla” by Blue Oyster Cult

A few years back, as I was wandering the country, I found myself at a cryptozoology museum in New England (I won’t mention the name because when I criticized it on Twitter, the owner got a little pissy about it). Suffice it to say, the exhibits were built on some questionable “science.” And I wondered, how can anyone believe this stuff?

Well, the Lorestalker series takes this and runs with it. It follows Miriam Brooks, daughter or renowned cryptozoologist Skylar Brooks, as she and her friends investigate weird phenomena around the country, from a Bigfoot-like creature, to a giant kracken and skinwalkers.

Book 1, The Beast of Rose Valley, takes place in small-town Texas. Some creature is killing livestock and animals at a wildlife sanctuary, and the powers that be are trying to cover it up. What hooked me into this book, and the series as a whole, as that I figured out who was responsible about 1/3 of the way in – and then the author said, “Yep, here’s what you figured out but also here’s this twist.” It’s a great twist, something that’s built on in the rest of the series so I won’t spoil it, but something that makes you want to try to figure out each book as you’re reading it. Throw in likeable, believable characters, and this is a series you won’t want to put down.

Book 2, The Kraken of Cape Madre, switches the main character from a Texas guy to Miriam. This threw me at first, since she was basically just a side character in the first book with no POV, but it works for the series, and she becomes the main protagonist for most of the series. Miriam, her cousin, and her best friend are on vacation on the Texas Gulf coast, and a giant octopus appears. Again, the author takes everything you think you’ve figured out about the story, tells you you’re right, and then takes it further with a similar twist to what he did in the first book. The plot is good, but it’s the characters that have me giving this book 5 stars. Miriam is very real, from her on-the-spectrum-ish behavior instilled in her by her obsessive, narcissistic father, to her guilt-ridden PTSD earned in the last book. Even without the enjoyable sci-fi/fantasy/thriller/horror elements, I’d keep reading just to tag along on her adventures and watch her growth.

Book 3, The Witch of Gray’s Point, shifts gears a bit. Miriam is taking a study break at her father’s ranch in the Texas desert – only he’s there too, with his new team of assistants. Miriam and her dad have a complicated relationship, to put it mildly, but she’s convinced to stay at least the night. And that’s when the skinwalkers show up – Native American demon people. Based on their descriptions and their abilities, I thought there was no way this book could have the same twist as the others – but then bam, there it was, showing just how creative and ingenious the author is. Some great character development in this too, for characters I wasn’t expecting it from, and I was even more invested in the series to see how everyone continues to grow.

By book 4, The Haunt at Hogg Run, I was devouring this series. As in, as soon as I finished book 3 I immediately bought and read book 4. Unfortunately, book 4 was a shift away from the themes of the rest of the series. I’m not saying it wasn’t good – it definitely was – but it was almost straight-up slasher horror, compared to sci-fi/thriller/horror of the rest of the series. This book focuses mostly on Macy Donner, Miriam’s best friend. We know her pretty well at this point, but it was jarring for her to carry the book on her own, without her friends along. And the cryptid in this book, unlike the rest of them, is revealed pretty early, so there’s none of the related suspense that the rest of the series has had. Again, this is a good book, but it broke my stride in the series a bit.

Book 5, The Devil of Misty Lake, was a return to the rest of the series. Miriam and Macy have their first real cryptid investigation, this time in the forest of the Pacific Northwest (I would’ve loved to see a reference to the Pacific Northwest tree octopus). The author also returns to the same twist/reveal he’s used in the prior books, and it works as well here as it did in the rest of them. I also liked the introduction of the new characters – a monster-focused bounty hunter and a local guide – who I hope to see teaming up with Miriam and Macy in future books. Miriam again shows some great character growth in this book, especially at the end, that I expect to affect her in future books as well. Macy has growth too, the realistic kind that comes from her experience in book 4, that demonstrate the author’s deep understanding of human nature.

Overall, I highly recommend this series. It’s a mix of sci-fi, horror, and thriller, but the characters are so skillfully written that the plot almost takes a backseat and becomes a way for them to interact and grow. Even if you’re not generally into this kind of series, I recommend at least checking out the first book.

The song accompanying this week’s books is awesome in its own right, but there’s one lyric that specially applies: “History shows again and again how nature points out the folly of man.” And that’s the theme of these stories – whenever people start messing with nature, bad things happen. Again, and again, and again….

Media Monday: A delicious romantic comedy

Cover of ebook Food Fight by Thea LambertThe book: Food Fight!: An Enemies to Lovers, Reality TV Romance by Thea Lambert

The media: “Why Are Cooking Shows?” by We’re in Hell

First off, a disclaimer: While I’ll read just about anything, there are a few genres I generally avoid: Omegaverse MMPreg. Cozy mysteries. Amish romances. And chick lit.

This week’s book is strongly in the chick lit category.

That said, I really enjoyed this book. It follows two contestants on a food truck reality show competition, who just happen to have a history together. The author does a great job of weaving together their past and their present, in a way that hints at what happened but drops in the flashbacks as the present story needs them, rather than all at once – or starting then and skipping to now.

The book also makes you hungry, as the author describes lots of mouth-watering dishes that the contestants make. Maybe she could do a spin-off cookbook too?

The only issue I had with this story was the ending, and I don’t want to give away spoilers (although it’s a romance so I’m guessing you can figure out the ending just by reading the blurb) – but if someone was a jerk to me, I’d hold that grudge forever. Case in point: I recently got called up for jury duty, and I was fully prepared to tell the courts that I would side with the defendant every freaking time if the officer involved was this guy who thought it was funny to call me Daria in 11th grade PE. It wasn’t funny. There were 500 kids at my high school, and maybe 30-40 in my PE class. He knew my name. He’s an asshole and 20 years later I still dislike him. (I got put on a grand jury, and none of the cases we heard were touched by Detective Dickhead. He lucked out this time.)

Back to food.

The media that accompanies this is a fun look at the history of TV cooking shows, starting with Julia Child and continuing through the macho boom (Anthony Bordain, Gordan Ramsey) through to reality shows we have gazillions of now. This video also speaks of the kinda exploitative nature of the shows, which Thea Lambert touches on in her book too.

Are you a fan of chick lit? Cooking shows? Cooking? Books about cooking? Share your thoughts below, and make sure to get a copy of Food Fight!

Media Monday: More famous than Edgar Allen Poe?

Media MondayThe book: Japanese Tales of Mystery and Imagination by Edogawa Rampo

The music: Anything by Ningen Isu

YouTube’s algorithms know my tastes pretty well by now, so when a new band is recommended, I watch the video. I think I was watching something by Babymetal and YouTube was like, “Hey, J metal [Japanese metal] is cool, but you’re not a kawaii metal [Japanese metal + Jpop [Japanese pop]] person. Check out these guys instead.” So I did.

Ningen Isu’s music is pretty standard metal. Wikipedia tells me they’re influenced by Black Sabbath and Kiss, which comes across – nothing groundbreaking, but still good to listen to in the background. They’re also fun to watch: the singer/guitarist looks like he should be yelling at you to get off his lawn, the bassist has this ghost-monk look going on, and their current drummer appears happily stuck about 30 years in the past.

Where they do distinguish themselves, however, is with their lyrics, with references to H.P. Lovecraft, Buddhism, and classic Japanese literature. Their name, for example, which means “Human Chair,” comes from a story by Japanese mystery/horror writer Edogawa Rampo. So, I decided to read a book of his short stories.

First, some notes about the author. His pen name is the Japanese pronunciation of his favorite mystery writer (say his name aloud if you can’t figure it out). His stories are “Ero guro nansensu,” which comes from the English words “erotic, grotesque, nonsense.” And that really captures his stories that I read, which gives them a creepy vibe that you don’t find very often in straight-up mystery or horror.

Of the stories in this particular book, they seemed to fall into two categories: creepy body horror, and the psychology of murder. There’s nothing supernatural in these stories (with maybe the exception of “The Traveler with the Pasted Rag Picture”), which only adds to the horror, because any of these stories could actually be real, taking place right now. He also has some pretty ingenious murder methods, in case you’re looking for inspiration for your own murder story that you’re definitely just writing and not actually acting out.

I don’t have much familiarity with Japanese literature (or much Asian literature overall, unfortunately), so I was glad to find this book. I’ll definitely be reading more of his works and those of similar authors.

If you’re familiar with Japanese literature, what other authors would you recommend?

Media Monday: You know, not every German was a member of the resistance

Media MondayThe book: Every single book I’ve read that portrays the protagonist as hating those mean Nazis

The music: “Stripped” by Rammstein

Today’s post is more of a rant than a book review, especially in light of the recent US election where 70 million Americans voted for a guy who said about neo-Nazis and white supremacists, “There are good people on both sides.”

I started reading a historical/lit fiction book this week that I ended up shelving about 10% in because the MCs, who we meet in Germany in 1939, are very convinced that Hitler is bad and the Nazis are bad and Jewish people are good and oh no, we have to fight back. I’ve read several books in this vein in the last couple years, and I’m going to declare that while yes, people like this did exist, most of these stories are liberal revisionist propaganda aimed at making current moderates feel better about their own complicit silence.

If you’re an American, when you were in school you learned all about the Holocaust, how Hitler was a dictator and the Americans liberated the concentration camps and were appalled because no one knew that was happening. But then you grow up and learn that actually, people in the US hated Jewish people too, and we had all kinda of quotas to keep them from coming here in the early 1900s, quotas that directly led to deaths in Europe.

But no one wants to talk about that.

We Americans also like to tell ourselves, “If I’d lived during slavery, I would’ve helped to free slaves! If I’d lived in 1940s Europe, I would’ve joined the resistance!” Yet right now we have a government putting immigrant children in cages on the US-Mexico border, and how many people are silent about this? We have cops murdering BIPOC, and how many people are silent about this? Not to mention a hundred other societal ills, and everyone’s keeping pretty quiet about that too.

So when I read a book set in Germany where of course the MC opposes Hitler and loves freedom, I get pretty upset. The way to prevent fascism from taking over isn’t to pretend that no one supported it; it’s to understand why they supported it, then learn from that and apply it the next time this happens.

(As an aside, the Canadian Museum for Human Rights in Winnipeg has a great exhibit on the rise of Nazism and how ordinary people were affected. IF the borders ever open up again, it’s definitely worth a visit. Also, Winnipeg is awesome with great food and you should visit just because of that.)

The song for today, “Stripped” by Rammstein, is more because of the video than the lyrics. It’s a cover of a Depeche Mode song, found on For the Masses which is one of the best compilation CDs of the 90s. The video got them in some trouble in Germany because it uses footage from the 1936 Olympics shot by Leni Riefenstahl, a filmmaker who made propaganda videos for Hitler. Looking at the faces of the athletes, there’s no way you can argue that they all thought Hitler was horrible. There were a number of people who agreed with him, that Jewish people were bad and he alone could fix everything for them. No revisionist novel is going to change that.

As a bonus, I also suggest watching Rammstein’s video for “Deutschland,” followed by the commentary by Three Arrows explaining the complicated relationship Germany has with its past. And then getting Rammstein’s new self-titled album and playing it loudly on repeat for the next month because it’s awesome.

Media Monday: Urban fantasy trilogy Daughter of Smoke and Bone

Media MondayThe books: Daughter of Smoke and Bone trilogy by Laini Taylor: Daughter of Smoke and Bone, Days of Blood and Starlight, and Dreams of Gods and Monsters

The music: “Who You Say You Are” by Eels

Book 1 in this series was recommended to me at a writing conference I was at lat month. I don’t remember why, other than it had something to do with my new series of fairy tales maybe? Some aspect of storytelling or craft I was supposed to use as an example. Regardless, I’m always looking for something new to read, so I picked this up.

The first book definitely falls into urban fantasy. The main character, Karou, is a teenage girl living in Prague, with a vague backstory that’s slowly revealed to readers in little drips. We find out that she was raised by a family of chimeras, and she does tasks for the head guy, Brimstone. Then everything falls apart when some angels appear and destroy everything.

Book 1 is great. Great characters, great pacing, great job of giving us bits and pieces of backstory that fit with how Karou finds out things. It ends with this heartwrenching cliffhanger that propels us straight into book 2.

Book 2 is not really urban fantasy. It’s more dark fantasy that’s still clinging to being urban fantasy. And at this point, the little drips of backstory are getting annoying, as is the foreshadowing comments the author has started throwing in. “Karou wanted this to be the best night ever. It wouldn’t be.” “Akiva wanted this moment to last forever. Little did he know, all hell was about to break loose.”

Book 2 blurs into book 3, which was a bit better in that it wrapped things up, but it introduced a whole new subplot that wasn’t necessary. And again, there’s all this stuff thrown at us that the characters know, yet we the readers don’t. It reminds me of the movie Oceans 11. Remember the ending? The audience thinks they know what’s happening with the heist, but then we’re shown the sleights of hand that allowed them to pull it all off. Well, that works in a movie, but not in a book where we have a close 3rd person POV. We should know all the characters thoughts and memories and actions, but I felt like we were left in the dark just for big reveal moments.

There’s also a standalone novella, Night of Cake and Puppets, about how one of the side characters met her boyfriend, but I only read the first few pages because it’s written in first person present tense POV and is tonally much different than the rest of the series, and I just couldn’t get into it.

Overall, it’s not a bad series. I love the characters, especially Akiva, who’s that perfect broken hero who just needs a hug to help him through his redemption arc. Karou is great too, as a spunky female heroine in way over her head. The plot goes off the rails, but I still recommend the series.

The music for this series is “Who You Say You Are” by Eels. Not only do the lyrics fit with the series, especially the relationship between Akiva and Karou, but Eels are a great band that more people should listen to.

If you’ve read this series, what are your thoughts on it? Share in the comments below!

Media Monday: Game of Thrones

Media MondayThe book: Game of Thrones (Song of Ice and Fire book 1) by George RR Martin

The song: “I Hate My Life” by Theory of a Deadman

I know I’m late to the party with this. I’ve never actually watched the show, but I’ve seen enough clips and analysis to know the basics of it, along with all the spoilers. I’m trying to read more, so I thought I’d give this a shot.

Overall, the writing is really good. Martin does a great job of building a very complex world, without overwhelming the reader with unnecessary details a la Robert Jordan. But that complexity is what made me decide to stop after book 1: there’s too many characters, and too many plot lines, and overall too much politics that I just don’t care about.

And maybe it’s the school social worker in me, I don’t know, but so many of the characters’ problems could be avoided if they just let kids be kids! “I’m 8, so I’m a grown ass man now!” Bran exclaims. “I’m 12, so I can be a grown ass king now!” Joffrey exclaims. No. These kids, and Sansa and Dany too, need to be at home playing with GI Joes and Barbies instead of getting married and starting wars. You know what happens when you let someone with the mentality of a kid rule you? He starts a major war when he beheads his political rival, and before you know if you have armed military members putting Portland protesters in unmarked vans while we all die of a containable plague.

The accompanying song doesn’t have much to do with the books, but the singer is pretty whiny in this song and it reminded me of the characters.

If you’ve read any of the Song of Ice and Fire books, or seen the show, what are your thoughts on it? Share in the comments below!

Media Monday: Yep, that’s racist too

Media MondayThe books: A series I’m not going to name because I don’t want people attacking the author

The media: “Pocahontas Was a Mistake, and Here’s Why!” by Lindsay Ellis

Scenario one:

I used to live in Bismarck, ND, about a decade or so ago. When I moved into my house, my landlord said to me, “There’s an Indian family who lives next door, but they’re okay.” My initial reaction was, “Yeah, why wouldn’t they be?” And then, as I lived in this town, I realized that the residents were generally racist AF towards the Native Americans who lived on the nearby Standing Rock Lakota Reservation. Like, to the point that we had a rundown-ish Walmart close to the reservation and a new shiny Walmart on the northside of town for the white people. I mentioned this comment to a friend who was equally appalled. “Native Americans are such a noble people!” Ouch.

Scenario two:

I recently went on a social distancing vacation, just me driving around the prairie in my van, hiking and generally avoiding people. It was glorious. But anyways. I wanted to go to the Wounded Knee memorial on the Pine Ridge Reservation. I was able to drive across the Rosebud Reservation, but Pine Ridge was closed, with checkpoints, so I had to take a raincheck. The reservations have been hit especially hard by COVID-19, for a multitude of reasons. The main one being, lack of access to healthcare. Have you ever been to a reservation town, especially out West? They just seem…tired, especially when compared to non-reservation towns. It’s nothing you can even really describe, just a vibe I get. I think it’s something you just pick up on the more you travel, like how you can get a different feel when you’re in the Midwest compared to the South compared to the West. If you’ve experienced this and can articulate it better, please do in the comments!

Scenario three:

The area I live in was once home to Sauk and Mesquawki/Fox tribes, and my town was built on the remnants of Saukenuk, a massive, prosperous town of nearly 5000 people in then 1820s, when the US government (of course) came through and kicked people out. Every fall the tribes return to the park that’s now all that’s left for a celebratory pow-wow, complete with lots of dancing, crafts, and food. About seven or eight years ago, I took my son, who was about six or seven at the time, and he made the comment that he’d never seen a real Native American before. I was floored and explained to him that we saw tons of them when we lived in North Dakota; they act and dress just like everyone else in America. And then we had a long conversation about how many are forced to choose between staying on the reservation, with all its problems but also with keeping that connection to one’s culture and family, or moving off the reservation to get out of poverty but losing that connection.

Scenario four:

The plot of this week’s books. Basically, there’s this event where a quarter or so of the world’s population wakes up as one of four groups: ogre, dwarf, fairy, or Native American. Yes, Native Americans are lumped in with fantasy races. I made it through 1.5 of the books and there’s no explanation of whether having any Indigenous People’s heritage plays a part in this. Anyways, the Native Americans band together to take on and defeat the US, thus regaining their land, or at least some of it, and forming their own nation. No explanation that I recall of whether people still identify as a member of a particular tribe.

I think we can all agree that forcing Native Americans onto reservations was a bad thing. Forcing their children to go to missionary schools that forcibly erased their culture was bad. But elevating them to a mythical race, or a noble race, or even just lumping them all in as Native Americans and not Lakota or Iroquois or Navajo or Cherokee can be just as damaging. People on reservations are struggling right now, pretty damn bad. There’s also substance use and domestic violence and poverty and the US government being giant jerkfaces regarding their sovereignty. I’m not saying we should focus just on the negatives, because they also have rich cultures and traditions. Like all cultures, they have positives and negatives. But romanticizing them, or treating them as a long-extinct race, isn’t helping anyone.

(Also, I definitely want to say that these books weren’t bad; they were well written and had good pacing and character development, but I just couldn’t make it past that scenario 4 above.)

Usually my book reviews include a related song, but that just didn’t feel right for this topic. So, instead, I’m linking to a video by Lindsay Ellis about Disney and their portrayal of other cultures, how it’s evolved but still isn’t where it should be.

What are your thoughts on portraying other cultures in media? Does it always have to be 100% accurate, or is it okay to take some liberties with them? What about lumping them all together (eg, Native American culture vs Lakota or Iroquois or Seminole, Asian culture vs Chinese or Japanese or Thai)?

Media Monday: Superheroes

Media MondayThe books: Reformed: Supervillain Rehabilitation Project #1 by HL Burke and The Superhero Publicist by Janeen Ippolito

The song: “Holding out for a Hero” by Jennifer Saunders and Frou Frou and Bonnie Tyler

I’m not a big superhero person. I like Batman but haven’t seen any of the new Superman or Batman or Wonder Woman (why is that two words but Superman isn’t??) movies or any of the Marvel universe ones. That said, I still enjoyed these superhero stories.

The first one, Reformed: Supervillain Rehabilitation Project #1 by HL Burke, is set in a world that reminds me of The Incredibles. Superpowers are common enough, and the heroes work with the government to thwart the villains. It’s a bit too black-and-white – there aren’t many sables, as they’re called, who reject either side – but it still works. The MC, Prism, reboots a government program aimed at reforming villains, and she sets her sights on the worst of the worst: Fade, who is accused of betraying her father’s trust when he ran the program before, and of killing a bunch of people. There’s some romance thrown in, of course, as Prism tries to convince Fade he really is a good person inside. As someone who has no qualms about straddling the line between chaotic good and chaotic neutral, I don’t necessarily agree with this – why can’t people just be evil because they want to be evil? – but otherwise, it’s a nice story and a quick read. The characters are similar to those in other books by the author, but that’s not a bad thing either.

The second book, The Superhero Publicist by Janeen Ippolito, is a short about, as the title aptly describes, a publicist for superheroes. She’s working with a new client, a reformed villain now trying to be on the right side of the law for a very specific reason that twists the story around. Definitely worth reading as well.

The song is one of my favorites. When I was 5 or 6, my parents, for whatever reason, got me the Footloose soundtrack for Christmas (and The Go-Go’s Beauty and the Beat, also for reasons beyond me because both had already been out for many years and my parents didn’t even really listen to this kind of music but whatever). I listened to it a TON and still have a soft spot for most of the songs. This is one of my favorites, and so of course I was thrilled when it showed up at the end of the best Shrek movie, Shrek II. Frou Frou, a band I love, also threw in a version for the end credits.

I’m not sure I’d hold out for a hero from either of these two books, but it’s still fitting.

Which version of the song do you like best? What are your thoughts on superheros, heroes vs villains, and superpowers in general? Tell me in the comments below!

Media Monday: Adapting Etgar Keret

Media MondayThe book: The Bus Driver Who Wanted to Be God by Etgar Keret

The move: Wristcutters: A Love Story

The song:Through the Roof ‘n’ Underground” by Gogol Bordello

Wristcutters has been one of my favorite movies since the first time I saw it about a decade or so ago. I think Netflix recommended it to me, one of those movies in the “Quirky yet depressing indies” category that I love so much. Basically, this guy Zia kills himself and ends up in a place that’s just like here “but worse.” When he finds out his ex-girlfriend Desiree also killed herself and ended up there too, he goes on a roadtrip with his Russian buddy Eugene and this random hitchhiker girl, Mikal, to try to reunite with his lost love. Along the way Tom Waits shows up, as does Will Arnett. I’m not gonna give away too much about the plot because it’s weird and awesome and currently free on Prime, so just go watch it. Right now.

Based on the awesomeness of the movie, I got a copy of Etgar Keret’s short story collection The Bus Driver Who Wanted to Be God, which contains the short story the movie’s based on, “Kneller’s Happy Campers.” There are a bunch of differences between the two – all the names have been changed, for example – and overall I think I like the movie better. I prefer the movie’s tone; Zia (or Mordy) is more likeable in the movie, but maybe that’s just because in Keret’s story, written in first person, we get his asshole thoughts that we don’t get in the movie. I also prefer how the movie adds details to flesh out the story, which makes sense because the story is only about 40 pages – although it does pack in a lot. Another big change is that the movie is made for American audiences, while Etgar Keret’s story is heavily Israeli, so a lot of references and details from the story are left out or changed (except when they’re not and you have a random Arabic suicide bomber show up in the movie with no context).

But the main difference is the ending. I personally like the book’s ending better; you could chop the last 4 minutes off the movie and I think it would be a lot better. But I prefer that with most movies, actually. Again, no spoilers. And there’s nothing wrong with the movie’s ending necessarily; it just seems like they wanted to wrap things up nicely. Which is stupid for a dark comedy, but whatever.

The song is actually from the movie. Eugene was rewritten for the movie so that he was a failed rockstar loser rather than just the failed loser that he was in the story. The difference is mainly just his backstory and method of suicide. I’m pretty sure the only reason they did it was to have a reason to put this song on the soundtrack, but that’s okay because it’s a good song.

If you’ve seen the movie and/or read the story, or any stuff by Keret, what are your thoughts on it? Do you generally prefer the book or the movie? What do you like or not like about adaptations? Share your thoughts below!

 

2019 book roundup

2019 goodreads challenge logoMy goal every year is to read 100 books. This year, I read 61, almost half of which were in the first few months of the year (I read 27 books from January-April, then about 10 or so in each subsequent quarter). Being home with pneumonia for a few days is a great way to catch up on unread books.

This list only includes books I finished. There are dozens that I started but didn’t finish (often not even the first chapter) either because they were poorly edited or didn’t hold my interest or that I’m still convinced I’ll finish some day. I also didn’t include textbooks or journals that I read for school or work.

Here’s a breakdown of what I read:

  • 4 (7%) were either kids or young adult; the rest were adult. Of the kids books, 2 were ones I’d read as a kid and was rereading as an adult.
  • 1 (2%) was nonfiction and the rest were fiction. So much for my goal of trying to read more nonfiction books.
  • 3 (5%) were single short stories, and 5 (8%) were short story anthologies.
  • I know the authors of 21 (34%) of the books. 4 (7%) share my publisher and 3 were by someone in my in-person writing group.
  • 28 (46%) were in a series. 5 were the first book and I probably won’t read the rest in the series. 12 were in 3 series I binged within a week of starting the first books.
  • 6 (10%) were from Amazon’s first read program, where they offer a free ebook to Prime members.
  • 7 (11%) were from a different country besides US/Canada/Australia/Britain. 6 of those were part of the Around the World reading challenge, and 1 was one I picked up in India, where I generally buy all the English language books I can find.
  • 18 (30%) were books I didn’t like enough to rate at least 4 stars or above. There were also 9 more I started but chose not to finish.
  • 49 (80%) were ebooks. I’m buying print copies of all my Around the World challenge books, or this number would’ve been higher

Best books I read in 2018:

  • Yarnsworld series by Benedict Patrick. A dark, unique spin on fairy tales. I can’t recommend these enough.
  • Drawing Breath by Laurie Boris. A very emotional, realistic story about the (completely legal, platonic) relationship between a teenage girl and her high school art teacher who’s dying of cystic fibrosis.
  • A Small Place by Jamaica Kincaid. A scathing, lyrical take on the legacy of colonialism in Antigua.
  • Enchantress of Books and other stories by Alison McBain. A collection of fantasy short stories.
  • Winter Loon by Susan Bernhard. A coming-of-age story about a Minnesota teen whose life sucks.

If you challenged yourself to read a set number of books in 2019, how did you end up doing? What were your favorites? Anything you particularly disliked?

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