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January 1, 2024 · 8:07 pm

2023: A Year in Books

Happy new year and welcome to my reading wrap-up for 2023. It was a tough year of reading; I had a lot going on in lots of other areas of my life and found it hard trying to squeeze reading in amongst everything. I’m also very, very, VERY behind in my reviews. Nevertheless, books were read, opinions were had, and somehow, despite this, I had the most visits to my blog (almost double last year’s) since I started it, so to everyone who has dropped by: welcome!

Best Reads of 2023

I read lots of different genres, but the vast majority was fantasy. Quite a few of these were for my fantasy book club, but I seemed to pick a lot of fantasy audiobooks and books from my to-read piles as well. Overall, my favourite books of the year fell into the following genres:

  • fantasy
  • historical fiction
  • general fiction, and
  • science fiction.

It’s a bit of a shorter list this year; there weren’t quite as many wow books this year unfortunately. Anyway, I’ll update with links to reviews as I catch up.

Fantasy

A big favourite of mine from this year was “The Lies of the Ajungo” by Moses Ose Utomi. It was a hard-hitting fantasy novella about corruption and control. I also really loved “The Book that Wouldn’t Burn” by Mark Lawrence. Lawrence has really hit his stride with this book and it was a perfect blend of speculative fiction, twists and libraries. Shelley Parker-Chan followed up the phenomenal “She Who Became the Sun” with the sequel: “He Who Drowned the World”. After a very strong setup in the first book, the second took a different direction with a huge amount of fascinating character development. Finally, after nine years since his last book, Patrick Rothfuss has released a novella set in his Kingkiller Chronicle universe called “The Narrow Road Between Desires”. The story follows a day in the life of Bast, a minor character in the series, and is really quite delightful.

Historical Fiction

The best historical fiction novel I read this year was “Horse” by Geraldine Brooks. This book had a lot of personal significance for me, but was also an extremely compelling story about slavery, horseracing and history in the USA.

Photo is of “Horse” by Geraldine Brooks. The hardcover book is resting on blue silk with part of a white cloud with a silver lining showing through, and the logo “HYLAND SPORTSWEAR” with a horse between the words. There is a piece of slate with a dark bay mare and chestnut foal painted on it, and a small horseshoe. The cover is a painting of an athletic bay horse with a star and snip on its face. Its are ears pricked forward and it is holding its head over four black bars that look like fence railings with title and author text on them.

Another good historical fiction novel I read was “The Fire and the Rose” by Robyn Cadwallader. Set in the 1200s, this richly written book revisits some familiar themes but tackles many new ones around state-sanctioned discrimination, single parenthood and facial difference.

General Fiction

I really enjoyed the review request “One-Match Fire” by Paul Lamb. An intergenerational novel about fatherhood and masculinity, it really left an impact on me. R. F. Kuang’s novel “Yellowface” was an engrossing satirical story about race, own voices and the publishing industry that I really enjoyed. Finally, Miles Franklin Literary Award-winner “Chai Time at the Cinnamon Gardens” by Shankari Chandran was a rich and heartrending novel about the Tamil diaspora, the Sri Lankan civil war, race discrimination and aged care in Australia.

Science Fiction

After hearing about this book for a while, the queer science-fiction novella “A Psalm for the Wild-Built” by Becky Chambers did not disappoint with its story about finding purpose, love and tea.

Most Popular Reviews of 2022

Some of your favourites are still up there in the top 10 most popular reviews, but some new reviews have made it to the list, especially Indonesian books, so selamat datang ke blogku kepada semua pembaca Indonesia! It’s been interesting to compare with 2021 and 2022 and to see how many reviews are staying so popular (I’ve marked the five reviews below which have consistently stayed on the list). If you’ve made your way to this blog because of these books, leave a comment, I’d love to know why!

2023 Reading Challenges

I only did two reading challenges this year:

I tripped at the finish line for my 2023 Reading Goal of 80 books, falling just short at 78. It was an incredibly busy year with a lot of other things going on, but I am a bit disappointed I didn’t quite make it to 80.

However, I did actually manage to read a whopping 28 books during the month of December for my Short Stack Reading Challenge, which is far closer to my goal than the 50 books I otherwise read. I don’t think anyone else joined in with me this year but I was very slack about promoting it to be honest. I’ll try to be a bit more proactive with it in the lead up to next December.

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September 26, 2023 · 10:58 pm

Spare

I am in no way a royalist, but with TV shows like The Crown and never-ending news coverage of royal drama, it was a bit hard to avoid hearing about this book. It generated a bit of a media storm when it came out, with plenty of eyebrow-raising quotes being eagerly shared by news outlets – especially those related to Prince Harry’s sex life. Ultimately, it was curiosity that let me to spending a credit on this audiobook.

Image is of “Spare” by Prince Harry. The audiobook cover is a slightly faded portrait photograph of a white man with red hair, blue eyes and a red beard.

“Spare” by Prince Harry, narrated by Prince Harry and ghostwritten by J. R. Moehringer is a memoir about growing up third in line to the British throne. In this book, Prince Harry shares pivotal moments in his life including losing his mother Princess Diana as a young boy, serving in the military in Afghanistan, travelling in Africa and meeting his wife Meghan Markle. He also shares his experiences being relentlessly pursued by the media and struggling to find his place in a family where living a normal life is impossible.

This was a surprisingly easy book to listen to. Despite admitting himself that he is no scholar, Prince Harry is a lively, enthusiastic and expressive narrator who threw himself headlong into the task. His early years were particularly interesting, especially seeing the other side of news reports that had branded him a wild child and considering the impact of having adolescent mistakes, that many people could forget and move on from, becoming international news. The most heartbreaking parts of the book were around the loss of his mother, and Prince Harry’s grief and his fury towards the paparazzi ripple throughout. I felt like Prince Harry was very frank about his shortcomings, but equally open about how challenging it was for him as someone who craved being an ordinary sort of man but being unable to live an ordinary life, not even, ultimately, as a soldier. It was abundantly clear that Prince Harry feared the same thing that happened to his mother was going to happen to his wife, and his hatred of the media became more understandable. I was fascinated to read about the rest of the royal family’s complex interactions with the media, particularly the competition for publicity, the leaks coming from inside the house and the symbiotic yet often toxic relationship.

As I have mentioned many times previously, memoir is and continues to be a genre that I struggle with, especially when it comes to finding a balance in how much to share with the reader. There were many parts of this book that were intensely personal, and as a reader left me feeling like I was reading Prince Harry’s private journal. This was especially true for parts of the book that had a slightly more spiritual tone, where Prince Harry interprets certain events as being ‘fate’, or signs of approval from his mother, or messages from the broader universe. I also found myself wondering what the purpose of sharing some of the more intimate details of his life was; whether it was a strategic marketing decision to generate more hype and controversy around the book, or whether because Prince Harry was using the book as a sort of catharsis, processing his life in a very public way. Conversely, I felt like I was left with many questions about his various disputes with other members of the royal family. Despite how the book has been reported, I actually felt like Prince Harry was very circumspect in talking about his family. If the book was intended to be a response to the media’s characterisation of the relationships within his family, I’m not sure it achieved that goal.

A surprisingly entertaining book that at times left me wanting more and at others left me wanting less.

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July 5, 2023 · 11:10 pm

Sexing the Cherry

Surreal historical fiction about found family and the twelve dancing princesses

I first heard of this author when I was collecting books in the Vintage 21 Rainbow set, but unfortunately never managed to get my hands on the special copy of “Oranges are Not the Only Fruit“. The name certainly stuck with me though, and I came across a copy of this book at – you guessed it – the Lifeline Bookfair. Again, as a very short book, it was perfect for my Short Stack Reading Challenge.

Photo is of “Sexing the Cherry” by Jeanette Winterson. The paperback book is resting on a wooden table next to a paper boat with two dark read cherries sitting in it. The cover is also of a paper boat with faint writing on it, floating on a dark, calm sea. There are dark clouds in the sky with faint, ghostly shapes.

“Sexing the Cherry” by Jeanette Winterson is a surreal historical fiction novel about a giant referred to only as the Dog-Woman and her adopted son Jordan. The Dog-Woman finds baby Jordan abandoned in a sack on the banks of the Thames in 1600s London, and becomes mother to a boy who loves her with all his heart despite her size and appearance. The story switches perspectives between the Dog-Woman, represented by a banana icon and reminiscing about Jordan’s younger years and their time together, and Jordan, represented by a pineapple and recounting a strange journey in far away lands. In the middle of the book is an interlude with a brief retelling of the fairy tale The Twelve Dancing Princesses, which each princess’ story indicated by an angelic dancing icon.

This was a very unusual but readable book that explores a plethora of themes and ideas. Jordan’s journey is as unlikely as the Dog-Woman’s existence however the two characters intertwine and complement each other. Winterson’s writing is rich with motifs, especially fruit, water pollution, gender identity and the body, and her narrative frequently defies space and time to explore different iterations of the characters and how they might interact together. The retellings of the Twelve Dancing Princesses are disturbing and subversive escapes from seemingly inevitable marriages, underpinning the primary theme of gender roles. Winterson asks us to consider the roles of gender throughout (primarily British) history and to question who is telling historical stories and whose stories are told. While I could almost always appreciate what Winterson was trying to achieve, there were parts in the story focused on how ‘grotesque’ the Dog-Woman’s physical appearance was which I did find a bit excessive. I understand that she was trying to disconnect worth from physical appearance with a dash of humour but I think society has moved on a bit from the late 1980s and it doesn’t land as well these days.

A compelling yet perplexing story that left some strong impressions.

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January 1, 2023 · 8:32 pm

2022: A Year in Books

Well, it’s time for my annual reading wrap-up and what a challenging year it has been! I am very behind in my book reviews and barely crossed the finish line on New Year’s Eve to meet my annual reading goal. Nevertheless, books were read and I had thoughts and feelings about them, so here are my best reads, my most popular reviews and a wrap-up of my reading challenges for the year. This was also my first year using StoryGraph as my new reading tracker.

Best Reads of 2022

I read a lot of different genres this year.

However, my favourite reads fell into the following genres:

  • literary fiction
  • non-fiction
  • graphic novels
  • fantasy
  • historical fiction, and
  • crime/thriller.

As I mentioned earlier, I am quite behind in reviews but I’ll update with links as I catch up.

Literary Fiction

I haven’t managed to review it yet, but I really was impressed with “Young Mungo” by Douglas Stuart. Chris Reilly’s narration with a thick but perfectly clear Scottish accent really made the audiobook an immersive experience.

Non-Fiction

I read a few non-fiction books that really made me think this year. “The Great Beanie Baby Bubble” by Zac Bissonette was part-biography, part-economic history about the beanie baby craze of the 1990s. “Flush” by Virginia Woolf was an utterly charming biography of poet Elizabeth Baker Browning’s cocker spaniel. I also finally managed to get a copy and read Shu-Ling Chua’s short collection of essays called “Echoes” which was so delicately written.

Graphic Novels

Photo is of “Heartstopper” by Alice Oseman. The paperback book is resting against a legal graffiti wall beneath a simple representation of the Ukraine flag, blue and yellow, twisted in the middle, partially covered by a hot pink tag. 

Like so many people this year, I fell in love with the delightful young adult queer romance “Heartstopper” by Alice Oseman and the TV adaptation especially. I also had to review “Rigsby, WI” by SE Case which is an early 2000s slice of life webcomic I have been absolutely loving. I was so excited for the next installment in the 1950s detective noir “Blacksad” series by Juan Díaz Canales and Juanjo Guarnido with “Blacksad: They All Fall Down – Part 1“, the first release (and English translation) since 2014. This has been a real favourite of mine and I was thrilled to finally have the next book. I finally got around to reading the utterly charming “Dinotopia” by James Gurney, a beautiful adventure story about a land where humans and dinosaurs live in harmony. I also enjoyed Neil Gaiman’s “Black Dog“, an unsettling story set in his “American Gods” universe.

Fantasy

I couldn’t quite shake “Flyaway” by Kathleen Jennings, a tightly wound story with many complex threads. Ursula Vernon’s “Nettle & Bone” was a subversive take on the fantasy adventure genre complete with demon chicken. “Legends & Lattes” by Travis Baldree was a delightfully down-tempo, queer, cosy, fantasy romance.

Historical Fiction

Image is of “A Gentleman in Moscow” by Amor Towles. The hardcover book is standing upright behind a crystal vanity set with a small vase, a small glass and a squat box on a crystal tray. 

Hannah Kent’s “Devotion” was a beautifully written and creatively courageous story about a family who emigrates to Australia from Prussia. “A Gentleman in Moscow” by Amor Towles was an exceptionally paced, well-crafted novel about a Russian aristocrat condemned to indefinite house arrest in a classy hotel. I loved Kate Forsyth’s Cretan World War II and labyrinth retelling “The Crimson Thread“. I also loved Anita Heiss’ novel “Bila Yarrudhanggalangdhuray” which explores the story of a historical flood in Gundagai, New South Wales and the effects of colonialism on the Wiradjuri people.

Science Fiction

Fictional podcast “Forest 404” by Timothy X Atack was an immersive listening experience about the relationship between humanity and nature. I was completely hooked on China Miéville’s novel “Embassytown” that had everything you could ask for in a science fiction story including faster than light travel, weird aliens and linguistics.

Crime/Thriller

Gillian Flynn’s deeply disturbing novel “Sharp Objects” lingers with you in the same way the journalist protagonist’s troubled upbringing lingers when she returns home to cover a story. I was also haunted by “The Little Stranger” by Sarah Waters, and the question about whether malevolence is coming from inside or outside the house.

Magic Realism

I finally ready my first book in Bahasa Indonesia: “Cantik Itu Luka” by Eka Kurniawan, a difficult but highly original novel about the struggle for Indonesia’s soul. I was completely blindsided by K-Ming Chang’s Taiwanese family saga “Bestiary” and I became obsessed with the body horror novel “Bunny” by Mona Awad. Nardi Simpson explores the ripple effects of racism and segregation in rural Australia in “Song of the Crocodile“.

Most Popular Reviews of 2022

There has been a bit of a shift in which reviews have been the most popular this year, with erotica and old reviews being knocked down a bit and some more recent reviews jostling for position.

2022 Reading Challenges

I attempted 5 reading challenges this year:

To kick off my first year using StoryGraph I thought I’d give their Onboarding Reading Challenge a go. It was a bit random, but it was great excuse to make a dent in my to-read piles and you can see the books and categories here.

I had a bit more trouble with the Pondathon II: The Quiet Pond’s Story-Driven Readathon. I had a lot of fun setting up my character and loved the designs, but I ultimately found the admin a bit intensive and only logged three books with the challenge (and got a bonus plant for Lunar new year). Unfortunately the challenge ended about 6 months earlier and CW, the blogger behind the Quiet Pond, has discontinued their blog so I never got a chance to catch up.

I signed up for the Mount TBR Reading Challenge and aimed for Mount Blanc: 24 books. I haven’t quite got the final result (not sure if books bought during the year count) but I think I got at least 30 which meets the goal but doesn’t quite meet the next level of Mount Vancouver. You can see all the books for this challenge here.

For the second year I ran my own reading challenge, the Short Stack Reading Challenge, and I smashed out 20 short books in December which helped me achieve my last reading challenge. I was thrilled to see one or two other people joining in this year so I’ll try to promote it more next year.

I was so relieved to meet my reading goal of 80 books. I finished my last one at about 8:30pm on New Year’s Eve, but it was really down to the wire. I really enjoyed the user experience of StoryGraph and will definitely be sticking with them moving forward.

Wishing all my readers a happy new year and hope to have lots of reviews up very shortly.

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June 16, 2022 · 11:21 pm

A Gentleman in Moscow

Historical fiction novel set in Russia about a fallen aristocrat detained in a hotel

After recently moving house and being faced with the equal parts exciting and horrifying task of arranging my bookshelves, it has occurred to me (again) that I have too many unread books. I have committed to the Mount TBR Reading Challenge, but to be honest, it hasn’t been going especially well! With quite of lot of life stuff happening recently I’m just very far behind. However, with my bookshelf freshly organised, I decided to make a genuine start on tackling some of those piles. This book I bought some time ago after several people recommended it to me. It is a beautiful hardcover edition with gold foil which is simply radiant when the light catches it just so. Now, this book is set in historical Russia and given the invasion of Ukraine earlier this year, I did initially feel uncomfortable about the prospect of reading it. However, I looked up the the author and discovered he is American and decided to go ahead.

Image is of “A Gentleman in Moscow” by Amor Towles. The hardcover book is standing upright behind a crystal vanity set with a small vase, a small glass and a squat box on a crystal tray. The cover is black with gold foil depicting a number of small, stylised scenes including a waiter holding a tray of martinis, a woman walking two sighthounds, a bee on honeycomb, leaves and flowers, a small clock and a key. Next to the book is a bottle of Taylor’s wine with the text The Hotelier on the label and a black and gold design that matches the book.

“A Gentleman in Mosco” by Amor Towles is a historical fiction novel set in Moscow, Russia in 1922. The story is about Count Alexander Rostov, an aristocrat in his early 30s, who is being interrogated in the Kremlin. Shortly afterwards he is escorted to the hotel he is residing in, the Hotel Metropol, but instead of returning to his suite, he is moved into a tiny attic room and advised that he is not to leave the hotel. Ever. Irreverent and charming, the Count initially makes the most of things and tries to follow his typical routine: fancy meals, frequent haircuts, scintillating conversation. However, as the years pass by, holding on to the past begins to weight the Count down. If he is to survive life in the hotel, the Count realises that he must work hard to find new meaning in his life.

This was a beautifully written and elegantly structured book. Towles shows a real knack for keeping on top of the many threads woven through this story, bringing certain threads back to the forefront with exception timing. However, even stronger than this was the character development. Towles manages to capture a lifetime within a relatively short number of pages, showing the high points and the low points of a unusual life lived. I really enjoyed the relationships that the Count develops with staff and guests at the hotel over time. Rather than being static, the hotel changes over time and the people change with it. I especially liked the Triumvirate and how as the Count grows closer to his friends Andrey and Emile, they are shown to the reader in more and more close detail. It is interesting that this book was published in 2016 because I think it would have been a very relatable book to read during lockdown.

I thought it was admirable that Towles titled each chapter with a word or phrase beginning with the letter A, but the very last chapter, An Anon, I actually felt was superfluous. I had been along for the ride the entire way, almost every chapter had hit the mark, but the little coda just didn’t quite land. I think I would have preferred a little more ambiguity at the end. Also (and this is me being utterly pedantic against American English) I was a little annoyed that so much care was taken with describing dining etiquette, yet Towles used the term entrée to refer to the main course of a meal, rather than the French (and rest of the English-speaking world’s) usage to refer to starters. This could well have been an American publication choice, but it still irritated me.

Nevertheless, this is a deeply emotional and well-considered book that asks us how, when our world becomes very small, we can fill it with little yet meaningful things.

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January 9, 2022 · 8:56 pm

Going Down Swinging No. 30

Anthology of short fiction, poetry, comic art, graphic novella and spoken word

Last year, I was thrilled to win a micro-microfiction contest with this journal. I was so inspired I decided to buy one of their annual anthologies. I was looking through the store on the website trying to decide which one and I could not go past this one. The cover design is so striking (by Katrina Rhodes) and I was intrigued by the two spoken word CDs included with it, the design of which matches the Fabergé egg-shaped hot air balloons on the covers. I knew that I had to pick this for my Short Stack Reading Challenge back in December.

Image is of “Going Down Swinging No. 30”. The paperback book is resting on a wooden table with a pair of vintage binoculars and a pocket watch. The cover is of a duck with a dark green head wearing a period-style lime green three piece suit, riding in a hot air balloon. Things are hanging over the side like an anchor, dried onions and a teapot. The balloon is dark green with an intricate design. The duck is floating past a city of light grey buildings with domes and spires.

“Going Down Swinging No. 30” is a special 30th anniversary anthology of short fiction, poetry, comic art, graphic novellas and two spoken word CDs. Although there is an extensive contents page at the beginning, this was a surprisingly quick read. It has a really immersive feel with a very high quality selection of works. Given the number of pieces it is going to be impossible for me to review each or even most, so I will try to highlight some of my favourites.

The Clockwork Children by Felicity Bloomfield was an absolutely chilling horror short story about wanting to fit in with other children that reminded me a bit of “Slade House” or perhaps “Coraline” by Neil Gaiman. Procession by Paddy O’Reilly was a disturbing exploration of what a society with dogs who gained some sentience might be like and the humans who decide to worship them. Rhianna Boyle’s little comic Dirty Joke was a pure and humorous story about making the most of a difficult situation and reconnecting with family. Salvatore Ciliento’s ink illustrations were a beautiful and calming interlude among the written pieces. Shit Brooches by Oslo Davis was a hilarious, punchy little comic that really resonated with me given how popular brooches seem to be over the last couple of years. I thought that Retro Ryder by Robert Caporale was a really interesting take on the trauma of losing a friend when young with a bit of ambiguity thrown in to keep it edgy. I also really liked the realism of Gutted, for Carl Solomon by Luke Johnson which had a intoxicatingly urban setting and examined the ethics of thinking about violence as compared to acting on it. Midlife by Andy Murdoch was an excellent look at intimacy, queer identity and turning 30.

It was a bit hard for me to separate each piece of spoken word on the CDs (let alone find something in my house that would play them!) but the effect of voice over music and ambient noise was very compelling and they definitely added to the overall experience of this book.

A really enjoyable collection and I am keen to get my hands on some more issues of Going Down Swinging.

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January 1, 2022 · 1:34 am

2021: A Year in Books

Another year of reading done. After doing a summary for the first time in 2020, I have decided to make it an annual thing and share my best reads, my most popular reviews and wrap-up my reading challenges for the year.

Best Reads of 2021

My favourite books this year fell into four broad genres:

  • science fiction and fantasy,
  • literary fiction,
  • popular fiction, and, surprisingly,
  • poetry.

Fantasy and Science Fiction

Image is of “She Who Became the Sun” by Shelley Parker-Chan. The paperback book is resting on a black tangzhuang-style men’s jacket with white lining. The cover is ombre yellow and orange with a dark orange Chinese dragon and black text.

There was some exceptional speculative fiction this year, and one of my favourites was Africanfuturism novella “Remote Control” by Nnedi Okorafor, an explosive story about a radioactive girl ruthless in her quest for survival. I was thrilled to read the third book in “The Daevabad Trilogy”, “The Empire of Gold” by S. A. Chakraborty which was an exceptional finale to a fantastic series. I was also really excited to start two new series with “The Bone Shard Daughter” by Andrea Stewart, with fantastic magic and an even better animal sidekick, and “She Who Became the Sun” by Shelley Parker-Chan which pushes just about every boundary, but especially the boundaries of ambition.

Literary Fiction

First training for a hike, then taking up running, I got through quite a few audiobooks this year and some were just excellent. Gothic novel “We Have Always Lived in the Castle” by Shirley Jackson had me thinking about it and the disturbing protagonist Merricat for weeks afterwards. “The Hate U Give” by Angie Thomas was haunting for a different way with its hyperrealistic exploration of the Black Lives Matter movement. Then, in spite of the controversy surrounding the narrator, “Call Me By Your Name” by André Aciman was the most beautifully written love letter to the male body.

Image is of “The White Tiger” by Aravind Adiga. The paperback book is sitting in front of a redbrick wall next to a crystal tumbler and a small bottle of rum. Above the objects embedded into the wall is a small gold figure of the Hindu god Ganesh. The cover is white with large stylised writing in black and red and letter Is dotted with orange tiger eyes, with an image of an orange car striped liked a tiger.

A really surprising novel was “The White Tiger” by Aravind Adiga: one of those incredibly satisfying stories about someone choosing themselves over everything else, no matter the consequences. Then the disturbing but all too realistic “Unsettled Ground” by Claire Fuller had me ruminating for days about how so-called developed societies can collectively fail people so badly.

Popular Fiction

Image is of an advance reading copy of “The Dangers of Truffle Hunting” by Sunni Overend. The paperback book is standing upright between a champagne bottle and a bowl of cake mixture on a kitchen bench. A shirtless man stands behind it with a flour handprint on him. There are cloves scattered around, a red apple cut in half and two cinnamon sticks.

It definitely wasn’t all doom and gloom though, and I really enjoyed a couple of romps. One was “The Dangers of Truffle Hunting” by Sunni Overend which honestly was the right book at the right time, and I enjoyed the fantasy combination of food, wine and romance unashamedly. I also really liked the sheer drama and chaos of “Nine Perfect Strangers” by Liane Moriarty who pushed the promises of the wellness industry to their absolute extreme.

Image is of “Nine Perfect Strangers” by Liane Moriarty. The paperback book is sitting on a blue and silver yoga mat between a Tibetan singing bowl and a small milk jar with a sprig of wattle blossom. The cover is white with 9 differently coloured stones balanced on top of one another, and has the additional text that says “Can a health retreat really change your life forever?”

Poetry

Image is of “Throat” by Ellen van Neerven. The paperback book is sitting on steps between two black skate shoes with hot pink laces and electric blue interior that match the fuchsia book cover. The cover design is of a face in blocks of colour split in two, the lips and chin at the top and the eyes, forehead and short hair at the bottom. There is a Sturt’s desert pea flower made out of red fabric in the foreground that commemorates the Frontier Wars.

I am the first to admit that I am not much of a poetry aficionado, but there were two poetry collections that really resonated with me. The first was “Throat” by Ellen van Neerven which explores the intersection between queer and Aboriginal identity. The second was “The Uncommon Feast” by Eileen Chong that combines poetry, recipes and essays in a thoughtful and delightful way.

Image is of “The Uncommon Feast: Essays, poems, and recipes” by Eileen Chong. The paperback book is resting on a light coloured timber bench below a ceramic spoon and next to a bowl of mushroom congee with sriracha sauce, picked radish and friend onion. The cover is red with a yellow typewriter with a fork, spoon and chopsticks.

Most Popular Reviews of 2021

Interestingly, of my top 10 most viewed reviews this year, only “Remote Control” was actually posted this year. Erotica continues to be, hilariously, my most popular genre with twice as many reviews making it to my top 10!

2021 Reading Challenges

I participated in 4 reading challenges this year:

aww_2021_badge
Image is of the 2021 Australian Women Writers Challenge logo, which is the silhouette of a woman wearing period clothing with stars and plants in purples and navy filling in the colour.

I was pretty surprised to have read 23 books by Australian women and non-binary authors, which is a great achievement as the Australian Women Writers Challenge is taking a new direction in 2022.

Image is of a collection of badges with different icons on them including a fox, an orc, a wizard, a monster, a robot, a knight on a horse, a dragon and a spaceship.

I had a lot of fun doing the Spells & Spaceships – 2021 SFF Badge Collection, and I was surprised that I almost got all the badges! Although it may have been a little bit of a stretch for one or two (I’m pretty sure dragons made a mention in “The Sleeper and the Spindle“) the only two that I absolutely did not get was the Self-Published Fantasy Blog-Off and the special badge for collecting them all.

Image is of a purple icon with a book and the words “2021 Reading Challenge” with a white bar with the word “completed” across it.

I absolutely smashed my Goodreads Reading Challenge this year. I set my annual goal of 80 books but managed to read 90 in total.

Image is of a stack of 14 pancakes with butter on top.

A significant part of why I managed to read so many books this year was my inaugural Short Stack Reading Challenge! I got through 14 short books in December which really boosted my stats. It was also really nice not having to commit to any long books during this busy time of year and just move quickly from one to the next.

So that is 2021 in books. A very happy new year to everyone who has stopped by and left comments; here’s to a great year of books and book reviews in 2022!

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December 12, 2020 · 6:57 pm

(Adults Only) Whisper Grass

Short queer erotic graphic novel tie-in to roadtrip comic series

Content warning: sexual themes, drug use

After recently Marie Kondoing a significant amount of my house, and subsequently donating a LOT of books, I have had a bit more space to think about my remaining book collections including my graphic novels. I really enjoy graphic novels, and a lot of books in my collection are physical copies of a series that has become popular as a webcomic. I realised that I actually have some unfinished collections in some series, including a brilliant webcomic called “The Less than Epic Adventures of TJ and Amal“. I recently ordered the third volume in the print edition (the webcomic is free to read online), and I had a little niggle in my memory that there had been a limited edition mini-comic that the author had released. I remember not being able to get one of the limited print copies, but a quick search through my files showed that I had managed to buy an eBook copy from the publisher. It is now December, and the clock is ticking to hit my reading goal for the year, so I thought I’d finally read this little comic.

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“Whisper Grass” by E. K. Weaver is an erotic graphic novel about two young men, TJ and Amal, who are on an road trip together after meeting in a bar. Amal has to make it across the country to his sister’s graduation after coming out to his traditional family, and TJ has offered to cover costs if Amal does the driving. Amal is a med student while TJ lives a rather itinerant lifestyle, however despite their differences, the two bond during their journey together. One evening, the pair stay at a motel room and after attempts to buy some drinks are unsuccessful, share a smoke of weed together instead.

This is a fun and warm vignette where a casual evening of Amal and TJ hanging out together becomes something more intimate. Weaver is very keen on characterisation and mood, so while this is an erotic comic, the focus is still very heavily on the emotional connection between the two characters. In the author’s own words, “Sometimes people ask me why most of the sex scenes in TJ and Amal fade to black, get cut short, or are off-camera entirely. The answer is showing those encounters wouldn’t have moved the plot forward, explored the characters’ personalities, or added any substance to the story. In short, those sex scenes were unnecessary. Here’s something unnecessary.” I think that the decision to offer this as a standalone comic separate to the main series was a good decision. Although it is perhaps a little unnecessary, this comic is full of tenderness, humour and enthusiastic consent and complements the main series really well.

If you, like me, fell in love with TJ and Amal, this is a light-hearted and enjoyable edition to a fantastic webcomic series that only adds to our understanding of these two complex characters.

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July 12, 2020 · 5:55 pm

Girl, Woman, Other

Contemporary novel about the diversity of black experiences in the UK

I heard about this book because it was somewhat controversially the joint winner of the 2019 Booker Prize, together with Margaret Atwood’s “The Testaments“. I read Atwood’s book first because (pre-COVID) she was touring Australia and I very luckily got some tickets to see her speak, so I wanted to make sure I read the book first. However, I have been really looking forward to reading this one and after buying it, it has been very high on my priority list.

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“Girl, Woman, Other” by Bernadine Evaristo is a novel about 12 different people who live in the UK and whose lives are interconnected, including in some ways more subtle than others. At the heart of the story is Amma, a playwright whose radical black sapphic production is opening at the Royal National Theatre in London. With The Last Amazon of Dahomey as the backdrop, we meet each of the 12 characters one by one and learn about their lives and their unique experience of being part of the African diaspora in Britain.

This is an exceptional book and I am going to go right ahead and say that it is a crime that it wasn’t awarded the Booker Prize outright. Evaristo is a phenomenal writer and this book was simply superb. The novel has a unique, flowing style reminiscent of free-verse poetry with no full stops, rigid sentences or capitalised first letters. Although Evaristo keeps up this style throughout the book, each character has a clearly distinct voice. I particularly enjoyed how well Evaristo is able to write the same events but through the vastly different lenses of her characters. All the stories were compelling, but it was Grace’s story in particular that had me in tears. I also really loved that Evaristo explores different types of black experience in earlier eras, including Britain’s role in and profit from the trans-Atlantic slave trade. There were some parts of the more contemporary stories, especially Carole’s, that reminded me quite a lot of “Swing Time” in theme, particularly in terms of place and issues of class and racism. However, this book achieves what I felt “Swing Time” did not: a sense of cohesiveness.

I don’t really have any criticism of this book at all except to note that it is fairly long, about 450 pages, and it is not the kind of book that you want to whip through. I actually recommend tackling each character’s story in a single session then putting the book down to digest before beginning the next.

An excellent book that thoroughly deserved to win the Booker Prize alone.

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April 27, 2020 · 12:30 am

Always Another Country

Memoir about belonging and growing up in exile

Quite some time ago, I was running late to an author event. It was being held at the Australian National University, but in a theatre that was quite far away from the entry to the campus. I’d raced over after work and tried to sneak quietly into the back to find…an empty theatre. I was a day early. Anyway, I returned the following evening and saw the author give an incredibly articulate and compelling talk about her life growing up in exile. Afterwards, I bought a copy of the book and had it signed, but it wasn’t until now that I managed to pick it up to read it.

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I found this old Virgin Australia ticket and couldn’t help myself

“Always Another Country” by Sisonke Msimang is a memoir about growing up outside your own homeland. The daughter of South African freedom fighters, Sisonke is born in Zambia and spends years there with her two sisters before the family moves to first to Kenya, then Canada. After a brief visit to South Africa after Nelson Mandela is freed and the end of Apartheid begins, Sisonke moves to the USA to start university. There, she makes new connections, develops her political views and falls in love – three things that have a profound effect on her life. When she returns to South Africa emotionally fragile, she reconnects with her family and begins to develop her career. However, this is the first time Sisonke has really called South Africa her home and she is faced not only with the nation’s Apartheid hangover, but with the gulf between the idealised vision for South Africa and the reality playing out.

This is an important book that provides a unique perspective on South Africa’s political transition. The child of freedom fighters but growing up outside South Africa, Msimang has the perfect balance of lived experience and objectivity to provide what reads like a very unbiased social commentary. I felt that I learned a lot about South Africa from this book, in particular the hard work that went in to dismantling Apartheid – often work that was happening outside the country’s own borders. In between reflections on how South Africa’s political situation impacted her and her family, Msimang also provides insights into how living as a third culture kid provided her with particular strengths and vulnerabilities that she had to grapple with as an adult.

I’ve mentioned a few times on this blog that memoir is a genre that I have difficulty with with. While I continue to believe that this genre is critical to ensuring that more diverse voices and stories are heard, ultimately memoir is the curated highlights (and lowlights) of a person’s life, arranged to highlight a particular issue or point of view. In this book, I felt that Msimang went into great detail about some things such as her relationship with Jason, her experiences in Canada and her friendships in the USA, but skated over some of the parts that I was much more interested in: visiting South Africa for the first time, her ongoing relationship with her South African relatives that she only met in her late teens and the day to day of living in the country post-Apartheid. While Msimang provided glimmers of these parts, I felt that these were the strongest parts of the book and really exemplified Msimang’s struggle with reconciling her birthright as a South African with her own developing values.

A necessary memoir that explores South African identity, citizenship and nationhood that I wished had a little more South Africa in it.

Image of Castor the Sloth, looking through a telescope. #StartOnYourShelfathon The Quiet Pond.

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