Clara and the Man With Books in his Window by María Teresa Andruetto
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
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Wednesday, June 25, 2025
Review: Clara and the Man With Books in his Window
Saturday, June 21, 2025
Review: Graceling
Graceling by Kristin Cashore
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Expires 3/10
***
August 2, 2009
By an uncanny coincidence I checked this and the Here Lies Arthur book out on the same day. Don't the covers look similar?
***
It's off to a good start. Who doesn't love an assassin with a social conscience? More community organizing, I say! Katsa is maybe a little too idealized and modern, but her manic energy and obtuseness make up for it a bit. Curious to see where the plot goes.
***
That's a satisfying end. Two critical points move along much too quickly, they seem rushed even. I sense at least one sequel to come, and I'll probably read it.
***
June 19, 2015
Re-reading it knowing how the other books unfold made me enjoy it more. Katsa is a cool girl who doesn't like or do anything stereotypically feminine. I'm more tolerant of that trope in a debut when I know that the author will create many more lead women who don't follow that trope.
***
10 January 2023
It's interesting to read Cashore's thoughts on her first published book in the Afterword added a decade on. It must be odd to be both proud of what you've done and also aware of ways you could improve it, knowing what you've learned since then. Everyone of course has the same sorts of thoughts all the time, but most of what most of us have ever done hasn't been so very public.
The Lady Katsa remains an amazing creation. She is so unlikable, so unlike, and so removed from society while within it. She isn't neurotypical, and as an outsider she brings a fresh perspective, one that I find helpful. She's humane, and even quite kind.
Also, given how thoroughly USian culture is steeped in religion, it's remarkable that there is no religion in the book. And interesting that I didn't previously remark that absence. Well, not entirely, because Katsa wouldn't care about religion. There's very little in the way of culture at all, besides the Leonid rings and architecture.
Library copy
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Sunday, June 15, 2025
Monday, June 09, 2025
Sunday, May 25, 2025
Review: The Wisteria Society of Lady Scoundrels
The Wisteria Society of Lady Scoundrels by India Holton
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
I read this and the second book out of order. They're both a bit Princess Bride, the movie, and just silly fun. But I think I prefer this one just a tiny bit: the bit at the very end.
Interesting take on Queen Victoria, too. Possibly my favorite there as well.
***
25 May 2025
"One can be happy in eternal solitude: a book, a cup of tea, and no company; that was Cecilia's idea of heaven."
One can quibble over the beverage, and might prefer to include a pet of some sort, but the concept is accurate.
Library copy
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Saturday, May 24, 2025
Review: Cultish: The Language of Fanaticism
Cultish: The Language of Fanaticism by Amanda Montell
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
A clever, engaging, and empathetic look at a gamut of cults from the truly horrifying to the mostly harmless (no worse than any other late stage capitalism company) and the importance language plays in creating and maintaining them all. As a hypermedia you know I am all for a good book about language, so there's that, but there's also a great deal of insight into the appeal of social groups at the edges, non-sensationalized recent history about which I was ill-informed: both the massacre in Jonestown and how that in turn lead to the deaths of nearly eighty Branch Davidians. As well, there's a clear-eyed view of MLM and exercise studios of which I knew nothing.
Quotes that grabbed me and that I have to actually type in because I read an actual print version.
"...she willingly heard the buzzwords and thought-terminators she wanted to hear, and tuned out the rest...I let him address my priorities, and put blinders on for other things..."
"These folks can be thought of as "nerds" because what they're really doing is experimenting in corners...that might not be considered conventionally cool or glamorous. Analogous, I like to think of certain cultists religious types as "spiritual nerds." They're the people who geek out on niche theological theories...who are willing to look outside the box..."
Because there's a bravery to that process I admire.
"In the end, some problematic leaders are really just followers of the larger system. But a truly, destructively cultish leader is one who wishes to overthrow the system and replace it with something that grants them ultimate power."
I recognize that there are people like this, but they feel alien to me in a way that fictional Martians never do.
"The group [Ramtha] was founded in the late '80s....But Ramtha devotees...hear what they want to hear and ignore the rest."
That's a recurring theme, obviously, and so relatable. Many people are forced to make their choices from the lesser of two (or more evils), and not only in elections. But while some of my thoughts were dire, I was often amused as well, as this line, when recalling the bizarre claims of a conspiracy theory:
"...baseless doomsday predictions and ideas of dark forces secretly controlling everything are practically trite."
I am becoming a little devoted to Montell's writing.
Library copy
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Thursday, May 22, 2025
Review: Great Big Beautiful Life
Great Big Beautiful Life by Emily Henry
My rating: 0 of 5 stars
22 May 2025
Last night I dreamed that I was once again back in book-publishing or -selling, and I met Emily Henry doing something work-related. She was lovely. In the dream Great Big Beautiful Life had been embargoed and only released [that day] so I hadn't read much of it yet. But whatever complimentary thing I said about her writing seemed to puzzle and mildly alarm her. (It's been a while, but I don't recall upsetting any authors I ever spoke to.) Ah, well, the bus driver was kind about me holding him up, and I got to pet the driver's snoozing grey cat who was very sweet and not at all alarmed by me.
It was a pleasant start to my day, and I so rarely remember dreaming at all, let alone people or scenes, that I wanted to note it. No doubt I will enjoy this one as much as I had been in the dream.
***
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