A really fascinating premise wherein mammoths are successfully brought back to life but dying off, and so they import an elephant conservationist's brA really fascinating premise wherein mammoths are successfully brought back to life but dying off, and so they import an elephant conservationist's brain into a mammoth in hopes that it will help them stay alive. Nayler's prose is incredibly evocative, tactile - you feel like you're in the mud and the snow and the ice and blood right there with them. It took me a bit to get in a groove with the different character perspectives, but once I did, I breezed right through it. No real complaints, except that I kind of wish it had been longer - which isn't a bad thing....more
I don't want to say the thing that everyone else is saying because you need to let women live and write and not pit them against each other just becauI don't want to say the thing that everyone else is saying because you need to let women live and write and not pit them against each other just because there are similarities but also I do get why everyone is saying what they're saying. Whatever, I enjoyed it....more
Nothing remarkable or ground-breaking, but a fun, engrossing thriller that wasn't overly predictable (which is actually high praise from someone who gNothing remarkable or ground-breaking, but a fun, engrossing thriller that wasn't overly predictable (which is actually high praise from someone who grew up reading the entire oeuvre of Agatha Christie and has been predicting most mystery plots since I was a teenager)....more
This stretched plausibility for me, and some of the characters felt like their only purpose was to serve as red herrings, but if I look at it as a metThis stretched plausibility for me, and some of the characters felt like their only purpose was to serve as red herrings, but if I look at it as a metaphor/allegory for codependency, it works better for me....more
A touching memoir about Zauner's relationship with her mother and the role of food in it. There is some stuff in here that I found to be a little shocA touching memoir about Zauner's relationship with her mother and the role of food in it. There is some stuff in here that I found to be a little shocking (view spoiler)[like the physical altercations or the whole we didn't have another kid because you were so terrible kind of stuff (hide spoiler)] but by and large, a vulnerable and honest look at the complexities of parent-child relationships. Spent a lot of time thinking about how as an only child who's single and whose father died when I was young, I am pretty much it in terms of taking care of my mother or dealing with the aftermath of her passing. Heavy stuff, and I sure did cry a lot. The dismount felt a bit awkward, the stuff about Japanese Breakfast felt a bit tacked-on (and I like Japanese Breakfast, ftr!), but I'm not really sure how you end a memoir by someone who is so young and has lots of life to go when so much of it hinged on someone who passes....more
This one feels like it takes a really long time to get where it's going, but it's pretty hard to put down once it gets there. (view spoiler)[I kind ofThis one feels like it takes a really long time to get where it's going, but it's pretty hard to put down once it gets there. (view spoiler)[I kind of don't love that this woman lives across history and sees so many amazing things and amazing lives and then the story still ends up hinging upon her meeting a *special* man, but alas. I think Schwab really tried to make it more than that, but despite the attempt, the story feels like it lacks a center until the romance storyline starts. (hide spoiler)]...more
This is absolutely the definition of a grower in terms of fiction. About halfway through I started to lose steam a bit and was kind of wondering whereThis is absolutely the definition of a grower in terms of fiction. About halfway through I started to lose steam a bit and was kind of wondering where the story would go, but it turns out it gets stronger and stronger from there.
The Matrix follows Marie, somewhat based on Marie de France, who is sent to an abbey after being cast out from court due to being an unmarryable prospect with a bit of an air of scandal to her. It mostly feels like a series of vignettes of challenges that Marie faces, which I think is why it takes a bit of time to build some steam. She faces a challenge, addresses it, and then it kind of feels like "now what?" after each one. It doesn't necessarily feel like Marie or the story is imbued with much purpose at first, which I like, in a way - how many of us spend large chunks of time, if not a significant chunk of our time, looking, hoping for purpose? (I blame capitalism and death, mostly.) Marie does find her purpose, or at least a kind of purpose, and it takes time, work, growth, much as it does for a lot of us. It adds humanity and realism to a story that at times toes those lines. Marie isn't inherently likable, and I like that, too, but she and this book did ultimately win me over....more
Honestly I think every Sally Rooney book is my favorite Sally Rooney book until I read the next one. So I feel like this one might be my favorite but Honestly I think every Sally Rooney book is my favorite Sally Rooney book until I read the next one. So I feel like this one might be my favorite but if I re-read one of the others, then it would probably be that one, so. I'm a Sally Rooney stan, basically, is what I'm saying....more
I should've known that this one would absolutely wreck me given that Normal Peoplealso wrecked me - in a good way, the best way - and given that thisI should've known that this one would absolutely wreck me given that Normal Peoplealso wrecked me - in a good way, the best way - and given that this one hits a bit closer to home in terms of my most recent break-up.
Through the eyes of Frances, a writer who is in love with her best friend, who meet an alluring couple and become entangled in a quadrangle of sorts, Rooney captures the almost-incestual-feeling dynamics that can crop up in friend groups when there's mutual history, mutual attraction, competition, jealousy, all those messy human emotions that get triggered more often with each additional vulnerable relationship.
I'm not sure if it's healthy that so many of my favorite books leave me in a sobbing emotional heap but to each their own, I suppose.
I watched the Hulu adaptation of this one, too, and it was pretty good. The adaptation of Normal People was a bit better, I think, but that's also a much tighter and more straightforward story since it's only dealing with one relationship....more
A retelling of mythological events and characters through the eye of a seemingly minor player in some famous stories. Because Circe is bound to her isA retelling of mythological events and characters through the eye of a seemingly minor player in some famous stories. Because Circe is bound to her island, it's a bit of a languid story, so it goes through its dips and its peaks, but overall a pleasant and atmospheric read....more
A well-researched but super dense look at the planets through mythology and dissecting the connections of those myths to capital, power, labor, genderA well-researched but super dense look at the planets through mythology and dissecting the connections of those myths to capital, power, labor, gender, patriarchy, racism, etc.
To start, I feel as though this went a bit askew in its title and marketing. The opening and closing sections discussed astrology, but the meat of the book is in relation to the mythology behind the gods and the planets, and doesn't exactly connect any of that to the modern western astrology interpretation of the meaning of those planets. What each planet represents in a chart has evolved considerably since the planets' naming and connection to the gods - and several of the planets we use in modern western astrology weren't discovered or recognized until more recently, so it also doesn't cover all of them. In this sense it feels more like a book about mythology than astrology. It's helpful to know all of this in the broad picture of astrology but I don't know that I would call this a purely astrology book. I read it with a group and basically all of us were expecting a different kind of book, which I don't think is a failure of the book, but a failure of how it has been marketed.
The writing is a bit all over - for each valuable insight there's also a fair amount of assumption or jumping to points or conclusions. For example, the term neoliberal is thrown around a lot, but as anyone who has gone through the last two election cycles knows, that term has evolved from what the original meaning was to now being lobbed as an insult with some detachment from the original meaning. At no point does she put forth the context in which she is using the word. There are occasionally pages-long retelling or summaries of various artistic works and pop culture references, and it can really take the steam out of the engine at times, when much shorter summaries of the referenced works would have done the job. At some point I just started skipping over these to get to the point she was using them to make. All this to say, there's clearly so much research here, but it's not always referenced in a way that does that research justice.
The Venus and Mars sections were the most impactful for me, admittedly probably because sexism and gender is something I have lived experience of and spend a lot of time thinking about. At one point in these chapters, she breaks down Twilight and Fifty Shades of Grey in stunning fashion. I also appreciated how often she reframed different human struggle - from the myriad ways humans are pitted against each other in order to distract from class war, or how the military industrial complex is actually an opposition to citizens. Those are the pieces of the book that I can see myself coming back to, and that will live with me for quite some time.
Definitely a worthwhile read, but again, I'd adjust expectations going in. If you're looking for something a bit more strictly astrological focused, or more modernized astrologically focused, I'd check out Alice Sparkly Kat on twitter - or her website (and I believe she has a Patreon, too!)...more
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