I recommend you go get this book if you’re a fan of modern fantasy. It’s not ‘urban fantasy’ in the way of the wave of current day, hidden magic stories but it is evocative of that same aesthetic from the early 1900s. There are bits of historic religious practices (I think that’s how VooDoo is categorized) combined with the reality of life for the characters at that time in the world.
The area and the characters are so real. There was romance and drama. Concern for the ripples a ‘heroic action’ would send out into the world. It had action as well, with spells and thugs and stakeouts leading to police raids and chases.
I went through this book in a rush and was completely satisfied when I finished it. Go and read this author’s work!
This is a Watch The Skies choice. I suspect I would have missed it if not for the book club selecting it. I look forward to the discussion on it… because it isn’t something I would have picked.
This story does fall into the new ‘cozy’ category. It’s not a high stakes, save the world type story. It takes place entirely inside the restaurant and the adjoining kitchen. There may be repercussions outside the entry doors, but we don’t see that. We see almost nothing in terms of action actually.
I think this is an odd cross between a character study and a food network show pitch.
It’s clear and well written. It has interesting characters. It clearly loves food and cooking. There are hints at powers and politics, but all of that is wiped away by dessert. I will say I like it, but I don’t know that I’ll be reading more. It’s good, I’m just not sure it’s for me.
A chosen one fantasy you say? Been there, seen that… except I haven’t seen this before.
A chosen one who’s NOT a child. Somebody with life experience and real world concerns. Somebody who can’t necessarily solve every problem with athletic skill. What a wonderful change.
While I’m not in the same age category as Edna, it was refreshing to see how life can and does change a person and how they interact with others. Edna and her companions were real and believable. The mish-mash of desires and emotions and actions based on that made for a believable group of people.
There was still action. There were swords and spells and dragons. There were real consequences to actions and choices made. This was a thoroughly enjoyable book. If you’re looking for some good modern fantasy I would recommend this one, knitting needles and all.
This book came up on a ‘cozy fantasy’ list as a recommendation. I don’t remember where that list was, but they were incorrect.
This is not cozy, this is explicit. That’s fine, if that’s what you’re expecting.
This is NOT low stakes, except if you simply ignore everything outside of the relationship between the two main characters. The world building is really interesting. There’s a great set up for a land where the people are deceived and how culture builds around certain aspects of life. Everything from names people are given to how they conduct their day to day lives. It’s got good concepts!
Then it rips them apart, and tosses all that aside for a sex on the beach scene.
Again, this is great if that’s what you’re looking for. Don’t think about the world, focus on the sex. Cool. IF that’s what you’re looking for, this is the book for you. It was not what I was expecting, so it suffered because of that.
In catching up with my news feeds and other posts that I have missed over the past few weeks I found two that have some synergy. The first is a post about how much science fiction is created and published each year.
There are so many stories published at this point that no fan, no matter how quickly they read, can keep up with what’s out there. There are hundreds and hundreds of stories that come out regularly. I particularly enjoyed the math portion of the article that showed a certain rarity of story from decades ago. It seemed that it could have been my faulty memories from when I was young that the stories I enjoyed so much were so desperately hard to find. As it turns out, the numbers show it actually was hard to find those stories, as fewer of them were published each year compared to today’s standard.
This is certainly not a post, or commentary about how things were better back in the day. I don’t believe that. Things may have been more clear, or more clearly defined with less overlap, however, it didn’t mean that things were better by definition. I enjoy the simple fact that I have a huge number of choices when I’m looking for a new thing to read. I say “thing” simply because it might be a novel, it might be an anthology, or a series of blog posts, or an online published story or a graphic novel… you get the idea. There are SO many choices out there. I love it.
The post praises things simply being ‘good’, and enjoys recommendations that match that qualification. Quality and popularity are not always meshed together, in either direction. There is a modern standard that they discuss where reviews and commentary need to be hyperbolic in order to get attention. I agree with the author of this post that there is a need to be circumspect in our word choice.
I have been posting my book reviews for many years. I always try to show why I felt the way I did about any given work. I have some small understanding of how difficult it is to get any work published, so I always hope that an author reading my review understands that my review is precisely that, mine. My opinion and nothing more. I also attempt to avoid hyperbole. I have a special and specific shelf of books in my house that hold the books that have truly changed me or impacted my thought process so much that I return to them again and again. It’s a single shelf and that’s it. There are so few it’s easy to keep them in one place. I’ve written essays in the past about what sort of works changed me. I don’t want to be extra dramatic or willfully polarizing. I hope the clear and simple choices I make in reviewer terms will help people who read my reviews to understand how that affects their choice.
That all seemed a little convoluted as it fell out of my head. Let me see if I can explain this more clearly. If you read my review of a book, then you go read that book and you agree with me, you could then trust that my next review might better match for you.If you read my review of a book, then you go read that book and you think, “my God that was terrible! How did he praise that? I hated it all”, then you could understand the next time you read one of my reviews that if I loved it you won’t. I often find that an ‘opposite’ reviewer is just as helpful as one I match well with. That is the idea behind being as authentic as possible. If you find a match, then you will look to that person or those reviewers, whoever they may be, as a trusted source for finding the next thing you want to read. The screaming noise makers just don’t fit that category.
That is where the synergy comes in with the article about science fiction publishing becoming too big. Finding a reviewer or a series of reviewers you can trust to give you honest and clear opinions on things, without exaggeration, will help you sift through the hundreds and hundreds of choices and perhaps even guide you to finding works that you would never have otherwise found. I suppose it’s very similar to panning for gold. You spend a great deal of time trying to wash away the grit and find the shiny treasure that you can then show to others.
Revel in the multitude of choices that you have when looking for your next entertaining read. Look for, or perhaps even become, a trusted source for your circle of friends. It takes time to learn and see the pattern of things you enjoy, but once you find it, be authentic about it. It’s okay to say that something is good and that you enjoyed it. Everything you read doesn’t have to be a revelation of the highest order, nor does it have to be something that you despise and would publicly denounce. Sometimes just finding something enjoyable is enough.
This is how I approach my reviews and why a one-star or a five star are so vanishingly rare among my reviews. The highest high or lowest low truly should be rare. Reviews should not fall into the same category as The Boy Who Cried Wolf. Scream and yell on too many occasions and people will presume that is your default setting. Keep panning for that gold and be sure to share your treasured fines with others.
Vacationland is, by any metric you’d care to chose, the whitest book I have ever read. It oozes privilege. It was gifted to me at some point in the relatively recent past. My friend believed because I was from New England originally, and had briefly both lived and vacationed in Maine that I would appreciate the stories told within the pages.
I can say now that I’m unsure what my friend’s true intentions were. Did they really think I would enjoy it or were they trying to send me a cryptic message about my own behaviors? Was there ulterior motive? Perhaps not.
I recognized and related to a couple of stories here, or parts of them. I had successfully repressed the memories of going to the dump, but now they’ve returned. There was a significant portion of this work that simply made me cringe. Perhaps that was the authors plan all along? Having read all the essays in this book it wouldn’t shock me. I could imagine a meeting with an editor where plans were made to really put one over on everyone by publishing this. We will laugh maniacally whenever a royalty check is sent.
I have read this book. That is now a thing I can say and not be lying at all.
Two stars has the little pop-up ‘it was ok’ and I think that’s fair.
I would place this work squarely into the existential horror category. It’s shades of Lovecraft through and through. IF you’re a fan of that, this book is likely right up your alley. I can’t really call myself a fan of this kind of thing, but I’m not NOT a fan. This is a compelling book, but I just don’t get as worked up about the existential stuff as a lot of fans apparently do. Some things happened, sort of, I think… but I’m not sure. Maybe that’s the point? What did happen? Did it really happen? Wouldn’t a walk on the beach be a good thing to do?
I read and finished this one, but I wasn’t excited about it. I was often just waiting for something to happen. I’m still kind of waiting for something to happen.
This book also (apparently) had a film made of it. I looked at the old trailer and I believe I watched the film. I’m uncertain as not much of it is a clear memory. I didn’t connect the thing I watched to this book at all and had to have it pointed out to me.
I think those two things, no clear memory and waiting for action, amount to a solid summary of my thoughts here.
I struggled with this book right from the start. It begins with the “I hate you. I love you.” relationship mix. That has to be my least favorite – ever.
I pushed past that because I was hoping to get into the mystery of this order the six get selected to try out for. I was hoping for something about the magic system or the books they use to overcome something thought to be lost to time.
I hoped.
I got a fat pile of angst and a magicians style big brother house. Maybe that’s too harsh. I did not like it, and the longer that simmered, the more reactive I got to it. I’ve tried to temper my reaction by giving this review some time, but it hasn’t helped. It didn’t work for me and I won’t be picking anything else up from this author.
I don’t get political on here. I have opinions on lots of those things, but this is part of the place where I go to make sure I can get away from those things. I’m writing about this because it is of personal interest and it matters to me and to many who are dear to me. I won’t tolerate political nonsense being posted here. It’s mine, I own it, I will chuck you out. You have been warned.
It’s pride month. This doesn’t apply to me, but it applies to many family and friends. It matters. One of the other things that matters is knowing history. Where did some of these things come from? Can you dig a little deeper and learn the real stories behind things you’ve only heard about? You can, and you should.
Last night I took some time and I watched the documentary about a straight Jewish couple that owned and operated one of the most well know, dare I say important book shops and pornography businesses related to gay culture. The documentary is called “Circus of Books”. Yes, it’s been out for a few years now, but there are occasions when it takes time to get back to things on your list.
Check out the trailer here:
As you might have guessed from what I titled the entry, this is important history for the gay community and for first amendment rights. Hearing the story of the owners and the family they maintained while running not just a book / porn shop but also a chunk of the gay film industry for a long time was fascinating. The access was absolute since the film maker is the daughter of the owners. She interviewed her parents, her brothers, her parents friends and even some of the employees. It was shocking to hear how they fell into this business and just kept going.
Hearing the portion of the tale from the 80s and the AIDS crisis was jarring. It’s one thing to know history. It is quite another to live it, and have those around you die during it.
That was one of the things that leads me to a small point of criticism for this show. I believe the film maker pulled some punches because it was her family. Yes, she had the access, but I think both the portion of the story during the AIDS crisis and the ending really lacked… something. I wanted there to be more umph with the story or more of an emotional wrap up and point at the end. Yes, I think it could have had pointy bits about freedom of expression as well – but in all it was a slow watch. It felt all of the hour and 40ish minute run time. It left with this note of, “well, that’s it, the store is closed” and went to the credits. I felt like there could have been more.
Seeing the business itself, in bits and pieces, it also looked like an operation that failed to adapt. It’s not that a shop like that couldn’t survive, it was more that it would take an investment of time, money and innovation. Even from the glimpses in the film there were swinging doors that looked like one wouldn’t want to touch them (just worn and old, I’m sure) and the filing ‘system’ was a drawer filled with handwritten notes and pages taped to walls. It felt like a place that needed to change and just didn’t. Perhaps the owners were tired and just wanted to retire. It was put forward as the owners just not making enough money to call it sustainable.
Having said that – I still recommend it. Go and check out the history because it matters. Watch and see what has come before and who those people are. The show ends with the closing of the store, but I have gone out looking on the web, just to see, and the shop appears to have been sold / reopened and looks like it’s going strong with an online presence. From their site:
“Book Circus opened in 1960 and with the very cruisy Vaseline Alley behind the store quickly became the epicenter of the gay community at that time. In 1980 and through the AIDS crises it became the iconic Circus of Books, WeHo’s version of Stonewall. In 2020 it has been reimagined and reopened with the addition of Circus of Books West. Both Stores also feature The Gallery @ Circus, an upscale gallery representing LGBTQ+ artists.”
There is history, and there is hope. That’s a great message for Pride Month.
I have two particular criticisms for this version of the book. They are small things, but worth noting.
First, the publisher put “A Dead Djinn In Cairo” at the back of this book. I know it’s a short story (or novella – I forget how it was classified) but in the time line this story happens before the novel that was just finished. I would highly recommend skipping to this and reading it first.
Second, (SPOILER ALERT)
They save the world. They fight off the biggest and baddest of bad guys and now… what? Where do you go when you save the whole world in the very first book? I don’t know how this character and the rich, wonderful world she lives in moves forward. That is disappointing because I did very much enjoy this story and the characters in it.
I absolutely recommend this book – you should read the novella (Haunting of Tram Car 15) and the short story at the end then definitely dig into this book!
I usually put up some version of the cover with my reviews, but this fan art was a lot of fun and helped put a picture to these cool characters. Be sure to check out this artists work at their website HERE.
